Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 21 - Defensive lineman Isaiah Mullens

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.

Isaiah Mullens came to Wisconsin as part of its 2018 recruiting class. In that haul, he was one of four defensive linemen the Badgers signed. Between him, Boyd Dietzen, Cormac Sampson and Bryson Williams, Mullens is the last one standing as a graduate student entering his sixth year with the program.

Mullens was a three-star prospect from just outside of Columbus, Ohio. He listed offers from Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers and a host of Ohio schools in the MAC conference. The hometown Buckeyes showed some interest, but ultimately didn't offer.

"To be honest, when Wisconsin first offered I really didn't know too much about them," Mullens told BadgerBlitz.com following his commitment. "I knew they had a good basketball and football team, but that was about it. But after the visit, it changed my whole perspective. The atmosphere, the coaches, the players - as soon as I walked in there it felt like home."

Mullens tore his meniscus in the Illinois game a season ago, and was only able to return for the Axe game against Minnesota and the subsequent bowl game. The lineman finished the season with 11 total tackles, eight pressures, six hurries, two quarterback hits and no sacks.

"He's stout, that's for sure," new defensive line coach Greg Scruggs said of Mullens this spring. "He's strong, he stays square...I think more than anything all of these guys encapsulate what you want out of a guy who plays hard and practices hard, Isaiah embodies that. But I think he's a big, strong, immoveable force, in my opinion, if we can get it all going the right way. And we've been trying to tweak those things...to help him be efficient in his movement, to extend the longevity of his career, and to be that immoveable force that we need to be able to play ball."

Overall, Mullens has proved that he can stop the run, occupy blockers and occasionally find his way into the backfield to pressure the quarterback. What Scruggs and the defensive staff would like to see moving forward is for Mullens to translate his strength into more production. In Jim Leonhard's 3-4 defense, defensive ends weren't typically the primary playmakers. Nevertheless, the Badgers have a lot of production to replace in the trenches and a handful of tackles and no sacks won't cut it for Mullens in 2023.

Mullens returns for a sixth season in Madison, and he's expected to hold down a starting spot at defensive end once again. In 2022, the Badgers got very little production from their defensive lineman and OLBs outside of Keeanu Benton and Nick Herbig, both of whom are now playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The returning players in the trenches are talented, but they'll need to step it up production-wise. As a sixth-year player, much of that onus will fall on Mullens.

Mullens has been a reliable - not overly productive - option for the Badgers for several years now. He'll be a key player for the 2023 squad because his health and development as a game-wrecker will be critical to how the defensive line performs as they face life without Benton. Mullens is one of the most experienced players on the team and he's slated to line up as a defensive starter alongside fellow 2018 classmates Travian Blaylock, Alexander Smith and C.J. Goetz.

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