Wisconsin's 2023 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the top 30 players who we think will be the keys to success for Luke Fickell's squad this year.
Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.
RECRUITING STORY
Travian Blaylock, who is going into his sixth season at Wisconsin, committed to UW in the 2018 recruiting class. A three-star recruit coming out of high school, Blaylock chose Wisconsin over offers from Washington State, Stanford, Cincinnati and Memphis, among others. His recruitment essentially came down to the Badgers and the Cardinal.
During the recruiting process, Blaylock was projected to play cornerback before he transitioned to safety at UW. He was primarily recruited by former safeties coach Jim Leonhard and former wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore, who worked the state of Texas for the Badgers.
"Coach Gilmore has been really dedicated to me since the beginning,” Blaylock told BadgerBlitz at the time of his recruitment. “He’s the recruiting director for my area and has been really involved. He talks to my dad, he talks to me, but he cares about me as a person, too, and that was big. He told me to make the best decision for me and doesn’t like pushing just Wisconsin."
In the 2025 recruiting class, the Badgers are recruiting Blaylock's younger brother, four-star tailback Tory Blaylock.
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES
At 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, Blaylock is a hard hitting, physical safety in the back end. For the second consecutive spring, the veteran appears to be in line for a major role in the secondary.
Before tearing his ACL during spring ball in 2022, Blaylock had been running with the first-team defense. That was the case once again earlier this year. With the exception of missing time due to illness, Blaylock had been running with the No. 1 defense alongside Hunter Wohler.
The Texas native is looking to go through a full season for just the second time in his UW career. Dealing with hamstring injuries in 2018 and 2019 and an ACL in 2022, the safety has logged just 177 defensive snaps through five seasons - all but one coming in 2020 and 2021.
"I would say at six months was the test where you can start running and stuff," Blaylock said of his road to recovery. "Obviously it didn't feel 100 percent - not that many people feel 100 percent at six months - but just feeling like myself running again on land. Being able to cut, being able squat, being able to jump with a single leg, I feel like that was the turning point for me at six months."
WHY HE'S No. 20
The issue has been availability with Blaylock. But if he’s healthy, all signs point toward the senior being a starter on the field consistently. Part of a rotation with Kamo’i Latu and Hunter Wohler, the trio of safeties project to lead the defense.
"Hunter Wohler was probably the starter at the beginning of the year and then he got banged up, but he’s a very talented player," position coach Colin Hitschler said this spring. "Blaylock’s played a ton of ball here. He’s coming back from an injury, but from all reasons going to last year he was going be an integral part of the defense and he’s going to be for us.
"Latu had a great season in a situation where he came in really late in the process. (Preston) Zachman, Owen Arnett, Austin Brown, they’re all kids that have played roles that are extremely talented, and then you add some young guys to the mix that are talented as well, so it’s a fun group. They all love ball and they all work their butt, which is fun. I mean, what more can you ask for as a coach?"
OVERALL
If Blaylock can stay healthy this fall, he is in line for both a big role at safety and as a veteran leader on the defense. The sixth-year senior has a chance to leave Wisconsin on a high note after an injury-plagued career at UW.
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