Wisconsin's 2018 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com contributors Jon McNamara, John Veldhuis, Jon Gorman and Jonathan Mills ranked the Top 30 players who we think are the keys to success for Paul Chryst's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored in to our individual rankings, which were combined into a final score.

30: CHRIS JAMES / 29: ANTHONY LOTTI / 28: JAKE FERGUSON / 27: ALEC INGOLD / 26: BRYSON WILLIAMS

The Badgers are going to need a few younger players to step up and contribute at cornerback in 2018, and Madison Cone could wind up winning the open starting spot during fall camp if he shows the coaching staff that he can play at a high level consistently.

Dontye Carriere-Williams seems locked in to one starting spot, leaving Cone, Caesar Williams, Faion Hicks and others to battle for the other job - and to fill out the depth chart. Cone has a bit of an advantage in that he has played in a few games for UW already. Hicks redshirted in 2017, and Williams has struggled to stay healthy over his first two seasons with the Badgers.

Cone flashed at times during spring camp, and said that getting that playing time as a true freshman boosted his confidence heading in to his sophomore season. Time will tell if that confidence and experience edge helps him work his way on to the first team - but the Badgers are going to need more than just one of their younger cornerbacks to step up this year if they want to keep their defense playing at a high level.

This specialist will look to cap off his UW career with another solid season after being a rock of consistency over the last four years.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.