MADISON, Wis. – Following one day of strength and conditioning training, head strength coach Ross Kolodziej wasn’t willing to signal out specific players who caught his eye. After not seeing his players for three months, everyone looked physically different.
Naturally, though, one player that caught Kolodziej attention was sophomore inside linebacker Leo Chenal, who has been turning heads since arriving last spring.
"It's great and you love it because he's (Chenal) not satisfied at all," Kolodziej said.
In a time of self-quarantining and home workouts, Chenal was one of the many players who made sure the absence of spring practices wouldn’t cost him his edge. Last month, Chenal posted a video of him benching 225 pounds 40 times in 44 seconds. A week prior to that, Chenal posted a video of him doing 315 pounds 18 times.
“You love that you have those guys,” Kolodziej said. “Again, that's the locker room. That's a guy who is training and putting it out there. Having been in that locker room as a man you look at that video and say, 'Dang, what am I doing?' So that's the driving force.”
Wisconsin’s defense has the potential to be one of the top units in the Big Ten, if not the country, this fall based upon the fact of its returning personnel. Finishing fourth in the FBS in total defense last season, Wisconsin is slated to return four starters on the defensive line and all its defensive backs. The only holes are the starting spots left by outside linebacker Zack Baun and inside linebacker Chris Orr.
Chenal – listed at 6-2 and 242 pounds – parlayed an impressive spring into a productive first season. He played in 11 games, had 16 solo tackles, recorded a sack and had a fumble recovery. While Mike Maskalunas has the most experience as the only senior of the group, Chenal figures to have the inside track to start next to junior Jack Sanborn.
“Leo physically is very impressive,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said last fall. “Strength. Speed. The way he moves. I’ve been most impressed with how he has picked up the defense.”
Chenal isn’t the only one who attacked the time off. From older players like junior cornerback Faion Hicks building his upper body to incoming freshman Nick Herbig making leaps and gains, Kolodziej likes the strides the Badgers made during 12 weeks of home quarantine.
“Probably why I'm most excited about (Monday) is it wasn't like, ‘Oh wow, these eight guys crushed it, but these four just stood out because they didn't do anything.' It was the group,” Kolodziej said. “We did a some mini-hurdle work and some ground response and their reaction times and how quick they were moving through those drills, you're just like, ‘Alright, we're gonna be fine. We're gonna be just fine.'”
