Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 25 - Defensive end Brandon Lane

Wisconsin's 2024 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.

Wisconsin’s most recent roster addition could end up being among the most important moves they made this offseason.

Brandon Lane committed to Wisconsin in late May, less than a week after he’d already committed to Louisville.

Madison will be Lane’s third home. Originally a three-star recruit from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, he chose South Dakota State out of high school but transferred after only playing 37 snaps in two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.

Lane transferred to Stephen F. Austin State, where he played two seasons and eventually became a core member of the rotation. In 2023, he played 11 games with seven starts, racking up 44 total tackles, 6.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

Via the transfer portal, Wisconsin flipped Lane from Louisville this spring. He still has two years of eligibility remaining.

One of Lane’s greatest assets will be obvious the first time he ever sets on the field — his size.

But he possesses a blend of weight and athleticism that’s becoming increasingly rare in the sport. Lane is 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, yet frankly doesn’t seem as clumsy or slow as some of the bigger linemen on Wisconsin’s roster.

Lane is a throwback player. He’s a big, old school lineman who thrives against the run. His 77.7 run defense grade was higher than any defensive lineman’s on Wisconsin’s roster in 2023.

Conversely, he’s no pass-rushing phenom. He’s only registered 2.5 sacks and 13 pressures over the past two years, and is coming off of having a 59.3 pass rush grade in 2023. But this is ultimately a nit-pick, as the Badgers would be more than satisfied with his strong run defense alone.

Interior defensive line was Wisconsin’s greatest roster weakness, and thus likely their highest priority during the transfer window.

Rodas Johnson and Gio Paez, who played the second and third most snaps of any defensive linemen on the roster in 2023, both transferred this past offseason. This turned the room from average into disastrous.

It took longer than they’d like to find some sort of a replacement, but better late than never.

His significance isn’t only due to Wisconsin’s desperation. In terms of style, Lane is the exact type of player that this room needed. He should be solid at the interior line dirty work that Thompson and Neal don’t always excel at.

Especially as the sport gets smaller and the Big Ten expands to admit smaller teams, Lane’s hulking frame is an invaluable commodity. He would’ve been a valuable transfer pick-up at almost any school.

When watching spring ball, the defense looked night-and-day better than it did last year. They brought in significantly more talent on the edge, at middle linebacker and even on the perimeter at corner. The interior defensive line was the only group that got worse.

Lane should at least create more confidence for a room that needed depth more than any other.

But as of right now, Lane is ultimately a mystery. He transferred after spring camp ended, so we never saw any vision for how the coaches plan to use him. But based on his production and skills, Lane should almost certainly be a top-three member of the defensive line rotation.

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