Key Wisconsin Badgers 2020: No. 18 - Offensive guard Josh Seltzner

Wisconsin's 2020 football season is (hopefully) right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the Top 25 players who we think will be the keys to success for Paul Chryst's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.

Josh Seltzner, an unranked offensive lineman coming out of high school, ultimately chose Wisconsin as a preferred walk-on over offers from Indiana State and North Dakota. The gamble panned out, with Seltzner, 6-foot-4 and 330 pounds, earning a scholarship during the 2018 season.

Wisconsin will be going into the 2020 season with some turnover on the interior of the offensive line. But the good news is, Seltzner, along with presumed starters Cole Van Lanen, Tyler Beach, Kayden Lyles and Logan Bruss already have starting experience. Seltzner has appeared in 26 career games and made four starts at guard in 2019.

Not necessarily something that can be placed on the shoulders of Seltzner, but with the departure of the three starting interior offensive linemen, the group will be looking to gel quickly in a shortened off-season. Lyles, Seltzner and Beach have all started games but have not been able to work together much as a unit.

We all know just how important the offensive line is to the success of the Badgers. Seltzner and the interior can’t miss a beat in the post-Jonathan Taylor era. In such a quirky off-season, Joe Rudolph will be hoping for Seltzner to take the reins at left guard.

The Wisconsin native has managed to carve out a role for himself and has now played in 26 games over the last two years after redshirting his freshman season. Now slated to fill in at one of the guard spots, Seltzner will be looking to take the next step and become a consistent starter.