Notebook: Offensive line sees room for improvement

MADISON, Wis. - If you watched Wisconsin's performance against Utah State, it was easy to see that it took the offensive line a little while to get their feet under them, as the Aggies' relatively inexperienced front seven held the UW running game in check and got some early pressure on sophomore quarterback Alex Hornibrook.

And while he wasn't making excuses for the line's play during the first quarter and change, junior left tackle Michael Deiter said it took the group longer to adjust to Utah State's new pressures and defensive looks than he wanted.

"They came out and threw a lot of pressures at us. There were some looks that were new, so obviously there’s going to be a pain with that at first," Deiter said Monday morning. "Be we throughout the season have to do a better job of adjusting faster. In my opinion it took a little longer than we needed it to, which is something that’s got to be a point of emphasis for us."

"Because it was working for them I think other teams will get to that and try to jump stuff up and make it confusing. The only way we’re going to be successful is if we can adjust to it."

Deiter said the key moving forward will be better communication from the line as a whole, not just from new center Tyler Biadasz, who needs help from his teammates before making the final protection calls.

"It was just getting guys confident," Deiter said when asked what changed for the line between the first half and the second half. "I think with a couple pressures we were getting guys were remembering the pressure we’d gotten three plays before when it wasn’t the same thing and we were getting adjustments that weren’t quite correct, so we were just a little bit off. And then in the second half we slowed down a little bit and relaxed and played football. That’s really all we did, and it was successful."

Senior tight end Troy Fumagalli will get plenty of attention from opposing defenses this season, but the Badgers have a couple of other tight ends who could make an impact in the passing game in junior Zander Neuville and sophomore Kyle Penniston.

But while Penniston has been playing tight end ever since he was in high school, it was Neuville who put points on the scoreboard first for the Badgers on Friday night with his first career touchdown. Neuville, a 6-foot-5, 258-pound former walk-on from Waupaca, Wis., made the switch from linebacker to tight end last fall, and head coach Paul Chryst said that Neuville will continue to be an important part of UW's offense; especially now that he's more comfortable playing the position.

"I think he's really important," Chryst said Monday during his weekly press conference. "He's earned the right to play, and he gives us great energy. It's been fun to see him this year and the past couple weeks really learning the position. I think you saw what he means to the team - there were a lot of guys who were excited when he scored."

Neuville did get on the field last year and worked primarily as a blocking tight end, but he took a big step forward in spring camp when he spent a lot of time becoming a better receiving option for Alex Hornibrook.

"Last year my main thing was run blocking," Neuville said," So this spring and a lot during fall camp when I was healthy I just got a lot more confidence catching the ball, running the routes and stuff like that."

Neuville has already showed that he has the trust of Hornibrook - and if he can continue to reward that trust it will only continue to diversify Wisconsin's offense.

The Badgers listed sophomore running back Bradrick Shaw as 'questionable' with a right leg injury for their game against FAU, along with sophomore safety Patrick Johnson, who has a left arm injury.

But Paul Chryst said that Shaw was able to participate in practice on Monday, so the Badgers are in wait-and-see mode with the 6-foot-1, 220-pound tailback. Shaw started Wisconsin's game against Utah State for the Badgers and finished with 84 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, but if he is unable to go the Badgers will still have two capable co-starters to use in Chris James and Jonathan Taylor.

___________________________________________________

John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.