MADISON -- Heading into his second year at Wisconsin, inside linebacker Jake Chaney was hoping to fill the void left behind by Jack Sanborn and Leo Chenal. In a highly-contested battle with Maema Njongmeta during fall camp, the true sophomore came up just short in what interim head coach Jim Leonhard called a "big-time battle."

"I would say it kind of sucked not being named the starter," Chaney said. "That’s something I wanted, but at the end of the day I knew in the back of the my head the coaches weren’t going to put me out there if I’m not ready."

Over the course of the 2022 season, Chaney has gradually become a consistent part of the defense and hit his stride the past few weeks. He's racked seven pressures over the past two games and came away with his first sack against Purdue. The past two contests marked the most snaps Chaney has seen this year.

"When he’s been healthy, Jake has been very consistent," Leonhard said. "He’s a fun player to coach because his focus is extremely high and his consistency in play has been there, week in and week out, in whatever role we ask him to do."

To open the year, Chaney saw 15 snaps against Illinois State and just three against Washington State. That number, however, has grown incrementally with 14 snaps against Ohio State, 31 against Illinois, 52 against Northwestern and 40 against Purdue.

The 52-21 loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus was a turning point in many ways for the team, but served a launch pad for Chaney.

"I would say the doubts went away after Ohio State," Chaney said. "I was playing special teams mostly and I saw how the game went on. That’s when I felt like, 'OK, there’s a whole of bunch of people in there, I'm not nervous'. I know when I'm going to get in, I'm going to play well. I got in in some trash time and played pretty well, and that’s when I knew I am ready to play and I need to play."

Part of the growth came after a phone call with his father, James Chaney, also his head coach at Lehigh (Fla.) High School. The elder Chaney also played college football at Florida State.

"I didn’t play much but was mostly complaining about the way we got beat," Chaney said of the phone call with his father after the loss. "He just told me, 'am I doing the most I can to help the team?' And I said, 'yeah, of course,' but he said, 'well, if you’re lying to yourself, you know what you need to do.'

"That helped me keep going on. At the end of the day, knowing that I was raised this way let me stick to it. Let me not leave what my foundation was when I get alone when I get here. I would say that really helped."

Chaney's growth on the field has been a gradual push that hasn't gone unnoticed by his teammates.

"Dude, it's been exciting," Njongmeta said. "Tate’s (Grass) my roommate and when we travel, Jake (Chaney) is my roommate, so those are the guys. Watching them grow has been really exciting.

"When we were competing all through camp every day, literally it was someone new every day who could start. Then me and Jordan (Turner) got the job and they kept chipping away. It’s very easy to say when the season starts, like, 'OK, this is my role,' and they didn’t do that. It’s great to see them grow, great to see them play. It's exciting because there is no doubt we have the depth in the room."

Not earning the starting job to open the season was a tough pill to swallow for the young linebacker. And as much as Chaney would have liked to earn that spot from the jump, the role as a reserve pushed him.

"It’s definitely a tough (journey)," Chaney said. "A lot of self doubt. A lot of, 'is this really for me?' A lot of, 'am I ever going to get my chance?' But the one good thing is you can always get better, and when you get better and finally hit the point where you’re at, it’s like, 'OK, I like this, I like we’re I am going, let’s keep on doing it.'

"I kind of looked at it like that, 'OK, I’m not ready to play yet, and I need to get ready.' I wish I would have had that mindset in the offseason or in fall camp where I wanted to get better rapidly. Down the way I finally got to play a little more - got the start - and I would say I wouldn’t be where I am at right now if I didn’t go through it."

During fall camp, first-year position coach Mark D'Onofrio sorted through his room and opened competition simply with the players who saw the most snaps a season ago. The first group in practices rotated based on whoever won the previous day. Now all four players - Chaney, Turner, Njongmeta and Grass - are showing up and contributing on Saturdays.

"I wouldn’t say any of us played at all last year," Chaney said. "Played special teams, got in during trash time and you can only practice so much or watch so much film, but when you’re in the game, you’re playing. I feel like we had to get that under our belt. Now that we got that under our belt, I feel like we’re just taking it and running it.

"I just think what we envisioned at the beginning of the season is what is playing out right now where we have four solid dudes who can get in there and play the game."

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