MADISON, WIS. -- Wisconsin rolled with an upperclassmen-laden first-team line during the five practices open to select reporters in the spring. Four of those five -- Tyler Beach (left tackle), Josh Seltzner (left guard), Kayden Lyles (center), and Logan Bruss (right tackle) all enter their fifth year in the program, while redshirt freshman Jack Nelson worked at right guard with that unit.

The initial second-team line seen in April included, from left tackle to right tackle: Logan Brown, Cormac Sampson, Tanor Bortolini, Michael Furtney and Trey Wedig.

Does associate head coach/offensive line coach Joe Rudolph foresee trying to keep the same five on the starting line that he had in the spring into the fall?

"I think the biggest thing going into fall camp will be the competition that'll exist, and I think there's legitimately a group that is fighting their tails off," Rudolph said on Thursday. "Like Logan Brown's nipping at the heels. Shoot, [Joe] Tippmann is nipping at the heels. Cormac Sampson is nipping at the heels. [Tanor] Bortolini, so there's a lot of guys that have a legitimate opportunity to fight their way in there.

"What I'm hoping is that competition really drives the confidence of the group up like that should because they're going to have to fight hard for their opportunities, and I think that's what camp's all about. That's how you get your group hardened and smart and strong with a great mindset, and so I'm looking forward to camp."

Rudolph clarified thereafter that he still has Logan Brown at left tackle, where he received reps during the spring. Bortolini has flexibility both on the inside at center and outside at tackle, according to the longtime assistant, while Tippmann -- a former three-star prospect who played in two games in 2020 -- will be at center but can also slide out and train at a guard spot.

Sampson worked at left guard in the spring, but the third-year lineman took over at center for the final two games of the 2020 season with Lyles out due to injury. The Eau Claire, Wis., native also played in 13 games with two starts in a blocking tight end role during the Badgers' Rose Bowl run in 2019.

The depth for Wisconsin appears to be in a more-than solid spot with fall camp starting this week.

"I think every guy in that two-deep could challenge for a spot," Bruss said on Thursday. "A lot of guys putting in a lot of good work. Like [Michael] Furtney, Tippmann, Trey Wedig, Cormac Sampson, Logan Brown, all those guys since spring put in a lot of good work. Really excited about all of them, and I feel confident with any of those guys in the game and that's what makes good o-line is you need to deep. You got a lot of guys you can trust to go in because anything can happen in a single play."

Nelson, a former four-star prospect, worked at right guard during the spring. The Stoughton, Wis., product received compliments from inside linebacker Jack Sanborn during Big Ten Media Days in late July about his mentality as an offensive lineman.

Tight end Jake Ferguson mentioned the interactions between Sanborn, a Butkus Award watch list candidate, and Nelson during a recent episode of WOZN's "The Camp." Redshirt senior defensive end Matt Henningsen recalled how he and the redshirt freshman lineman "kind of get fired up sometimes with each other."

"He's a young guy, so he's always got something to prove, right?" Henningsen said on Thursday. "Those young guys always have something to prove. So me being an older veteran, it's just kind of like, you get in those little scuffles and you get kind of upset with each other sometimes, but you know, it's all to make each other better.

"It's pretty cool seeing how much he's just gotten better over just like a year, like the year that he's been here. Even with the limited reps that we've gotten because of COVID with all this stuff, so it's pretty cool to see."

UW listed Nelson at 6-foot-7 and 304 pounds, up seven pounds from his spring roster weight. Before describing his aforementioned interior battles, Henningsen heaped praise upon the guard.

"You can already tell he's a special type of player, a special type of athlete, and he's got a different type of attitude than I've actually ever seen," Henningsen said. "The way he approaches everything. He has no regard for his body, he just wants to play. He just wants to be the best, right?

"It's kind of special to see, cause I got to go against him a lot in spring ball. Being a young guy and being as athletic and as technically good as he is, you can tell that he's put in time. You can tell that he's just done everything he can to be the best player he can be."

Wisconsin's offensive line started out fall camp shorthanded on Friday with Beach out with a left leg injury. The redshirt senior from Port Washington, Wis., wore a left protective boot while on the field in street clothes.

Reporters only saw the first 30 minutes of practice, with no team periods taking place that would show who worked in Beach's place at left tackle. However, Brown worked behind Beach at that position in the spring sessions open to select reporters.

A former four-star prospect and No. 47 player in the country for the 2019 class, Brown played in all seven games last season and received meaningful game reps against Wake Forest in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Lyles called out the third-year player's length during Wisconsin's local media day.

"He's long with his body," Lyles said on Thursday. "He's got a really good size to him, so once he's able to handle that, and perfect that, then I think it will help our team a lot."