MADISON, Wis. - Football season is around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com contributors Jon McNamara, John Veldhuis and Dan Broughton ranked the top 30 players who will make or break Wisconsin's first year under new head coach Paul Chryst.

The series will run every other day, counting down until we reveal this season's key player.

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

No. 17: CONOR SHEEHY, NG

Up to this point we've covered several players who could help the Badgers take a step forward beyond our pre-season expectations.

But Conor Sheehy and many of the players who will come after him are different. From here on out we'll be talking about players the Badgers need to have success if they want to remain competitive in their division, let alone win it.

Sheehy is important because of the expectations the Badgers are putting on him. Sheehy avoided a redshirt season and played in all 14 of Wisconsin's games last year, and at the end of the season it looked like he could be a nice part of their rotation at defensive end in 2015.

But Wisconsin's new coaching staff has a new plan for Sheehy after spring camp. Sheehy started off as a defensive end, but the coaching staff moved him to nose guard on a full-time basis late in the spring and moved Arthur Goldberg to defensive end to clear the way for Sheehy to start at nose guard this fall.

Nose guard is a key position in Dave Aranda's defense, which means the Badgers are putting a lot of responsibility on Sheehy's shoulders. To be successful he'll need to play well against the run and occupy two blockers to free up other pass rushers, and having Sheehy hold down the fort up front would help the Badgers ease in their relatively young inside linebackers.

That's a lot to ask of an underclassman who's still new to the position, but the Badgers felt like Sheehy was a better fit for what they want their defense to look like this fall. If he can thrive in the middle, it would go a long way towards keeping Aranda's defense from taking a big step back after losing so many seniors from last year's front seven.

This tight end could be a big part of Wisconsin's offense after taking a step forward during spring camp.