Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 27 - Guard Josh Seltzner

Wisconsin's 2021 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 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, has become a pillar for Wisconsin over the past few seasons. His decision to walk-on at UW over scholarship offers Indiana State and North Dakota has worked out well, as the 6-foot-4, 330-pound guard is slated to start on in the inside for the Badgers in 2021.

Seltzner worked with the first team offensive line during spring practices that were open to reporters. The Wisconsin native out of Columbus High School has plenty of experience, with 32 appearances and seven starts under his belt. He joins Kayden Lyles, Tyler Beach, Logan Bruss and Jack Nelson as projected starters this fall.

The faces along the offensive line will be familiar for the most part, but the alignment will be shaken up. Seltzner and Lyles will be the lone returnees in the same role they lined up at in 2020. As offensive line coach Joe Rudolph described it, the starters from spring ball are Beach at left tackle, Seltzner at left guard, Lyles at center, Nelson at right guard and Bruss at right tackle. Though a minor knock, Seltzner will need to get accustomed to a new set of bodies to work with as he works to improve his run blocking grade.

It all starts up front for Wisconsin's offense and for a unit that struggled in 2020, Seltzner and the line can become Jalen Berger and Graham Mertz's best friends. With a strong season, Seltzner can cement himself as another addition to Wisconsin's storied walk-on tradition.

The offensive line is set up to be the real strength of the team yet again with the amount of returning experience, and Seltzner is right there in the middle of it. Looking down the line, his experience can help guide reserves Cormac Sampson and Joe Tippmann behind him.