MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Badgers came in to fall camp with a pretty good idea of who their defensive starters would be in 2017, even after losing a few of last year's seniors to graduation. And while Jack Cichy's season-ending knee injury threw a big wrench in to the team's plans, UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard seemed confident that his team had enough depth to overcome the loss.

"It’s very unfortunate," Leonhard said of Cichy's injury on Saturday after practice. "You feel bad for Jack because you know how he works and how he prepares and how excited he was for the season."

As for who will step in to Cichy's starting job now that he's out for the season, Leonhard said that the Badgers will have to wait and see how the rest of fall camp shakes out. Sophomore Chris Orr got the first team work in place of Cichy in the first two practices since his injury was made public, but the Badgers could also use junior Ryan Connelly when he returns to the field after rehabbing a nagging leg injury.

"But yeah, you’ll see," Leonhard said. "It’s really ‘Who do you trust?’ and ‘How many reps are you willing to split with those guys?’"

-- The Badgers could use junior Arrington Farrar as the fourth man in their inside linebacker rotation now that Cichy is out for the season, assuming that Farrar has learned the position well enough to where he could contribute after the Badgers moved him to linebacker from safety in the spring. Leonhard said that Farrar is continuing to improve, but he could still use the rest of camp to get a little more comfortable at his new home.

"He’s done a great job of making that transition," Leonhard said of Farrar. "Not an easy transition, moving to linebacker from safety. But I think mentally he approached it the right way and physically he kind of grew in to that position so it’s not like he had to change a whole lot once you moved him."

"It’s just a comfort level. There’s still some things that you can just tell he – sometimes he feels great and sees it and is very reactive and there’s other times where it’s like ‘that didn’t quite look right’ and (he) kind of gets hung up. It’s just continuing for him to push mentally and every rep for him is great, because it’s a learning experience and he’s handled it well."

-- The Badgers are still evaluating their options for the first team nickel back job, and Leonhard said that senior Lubern Figaro and redshirt freshman Dontye Carriere-Williams have been splitting the reps since Carriere-Williams returned from an injury that held him out of practice for a few days. But if healthy Carriere-Williams could have an edge on claiming the job - in part because he gives the Badgers some versatility.

"(I'm) really trying to split reps because I want all of those guys to play different positions," Leonhard said of his cornerbacks. "I want Derrick Tindal to play inside, I want him to be able to play outside. Same with Dontye. Those are really the two guys that need to get both. Really just mixing and matching a bit and making sure that I kind of monitor how many reps they’re getting at each."

-- The Badgers are going to be counting on junior cornerback Nick Nelson to give their secondary a boost after he transferred to UW from Hawaii last year. The early returns on defense have been very positive, where he's already claimed a starting job and has been making plays in pass coverage during team drills. But the Badgers have been giving him a few reps on special teams as a punt returner as well, and Leonhard said that he thinks Nelson would be a good fit for the job if the team wanted to mix things up in their return game. Senior wide receiver Jazz Peavy handled punts for UW last year, but he's missed a few practices this fall with a leg injury.

"(He’s) very natural catching the ball, which is always the first thing," Leonhard said of Nelson on punt returns. "I think he could be special with the ball in his hands. He obviously has a lot of skill. I’m looking forward to it, but I think the number one thing you see is he has a lot of comfort being back there and catching it, and I don’t think he is going to panic when guys are getting close to him. I know there’s a number of other guys in the competition – I know there are options, whereas maybe we haven’t had as many in recent years."

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