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.

James Thompson came to Wisconsin as part of their 2020 recruiting haul. Committing in September, he was the 15th pledge for the Badgers in the class.

“Wisconsin always has great history with linemen in general,” Thompson told Rivals.com about a month before he committed. “They had future Hall-of-Famers Joe Thomas and J.J. Watt. Their culture up there is very pure; a lot of hard workers up there."

A three-star recruit out of Cincinnati, Ohio, Thompson chose Wisconsin over offers from Akron, Ball State, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina, Citadel, Eastern Kentucky, Iowa State and Navy. He wasn't a nationally ranked prospect, but the consensus around his recruitment was that he has all the athleticism and physical tools to become a great lineman, he just needed to harness it. Currently listed at 6-foot-5 and 290 pounds, which is about 45 pounds heavier than he was at the time of his commitment, it's safe to say Thompson is one of the freakiest athletes on the Badgers' defensive front.

Thompson played in 12 games last season for Wisconsin as a rotational defensive lineman. In some games, he played as little as 18 snaps. In others, like against Michigan State, he logged 52. So while Thompson wasn't technically the starter, he's been in the trenches and he knows what it means to carry a significant workload, tallying the third-most snaps of any defensive lineman last season.

Not only did Thompson play, he played about as well as Wisconsin could've hoped. With three sacks and 13 pressures, both second most on the defensive line, as well as an impressive missed tackle rate of 3.8 percent, the lineman proved he's a very capable player.

“I’m trying to be better," he said. "Last year, I think I had two sacks, maybe 5.5 TFLs, I want five, six, seven, eight, nine, I want all the sacks, I want all the TFLs. And I think in this defense that we’re in right now, it’s very set up for me to do that."

With his massive frame and powerful athleticism, Thompson has serious potential to be a handful for any offensive lineman. Getting him to channel that athleticism into crisp fundamentals, though, is how defensive line coach Gregg Scruggs envisions him taking his game to the next level.

“(He’s a) big, explosive athlete. Again, one of those guys that we just have to get control of, man. If I can get him to just tighten down his technique, his hands, his footwork, he’s got the chance to be a really good player for our defense,” Scruggs said. “You see the want to, the desire, the passion to be really really good. Sometimes we don’t get to see it on the outside, but I get to see it every day — I hear the questions that he asks, the way that he works. I know he wants to be great.”

Thompson may once again come up short of an official starting spot this fall behind Isaiah Mullens and Rodas Johnson, who are sixth- and fifth-year seniors, respectively. Nevertheless, he's proved he has the capacity to contribute significantly, and he only got better as the season wore on. Against Minnesota and Oklahoma State, Thompson collected three sacks, six pressures, one hit and two hurries.

Last season, an injury to Mullens opened the door for the lineman to see extended opportunities. With another presumed contributor along the defensive line Darian Varner missing all of spring camp, it's anyone's guess what opportunities will await Thompson come fall.

New defensive coordinator Mike Tressel stressed his nickel package this spring, an alignment that tended to feature just two defensive lineman. With that, there may be less snaps available for Scruggs' room. Consequently, Tressel also has his lineman playing the five-tech, which is new for Thompson and the rest of the defensive front.

"It’s always little details. As a three technique, you know, there’s not as much space as a five tech," Thompson said. “We probably have a little more freedom now, we’re running five tech now. So we’re out there with the outside backers a little bit, we’re not working no double teams, so we can go out there and get freaky.”

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