MADISON — Defensive coordinator Mike Tressel met with the media on Monday for the first time since the 2024 season began. He discussed a variety of topics, including the struggle of managing crowded rooms, the need to improve execution and more.

BadgerBlitz.com has compiled the key takeaways.

As both the defensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach, Tressel discussed the difficulties of managing such a talented room, full of players who deserve starting reps. He was specifically asked about the role of sophomore Christian Alliegro, who appeared in select games as a true freshman last season but hasn’t made much of an impact this year.

“Yeah, his role will continue to grow as long as he continues to do the things he's doing, and I've been proud of him. I would expect to see more reps from Christian but I think that's only something that will help Jaheim Thomas as well. You don't want to have one guy have 60 snaps a game. Everybody will be playing their best at the end of the fourth quarter or the end of the year, however you look at it, if you can split those reps a little bit more,” Tressel said.

He was later asked about the development of Tackett Curtis, another second-year inside linebacker who has overshadowed Alliegro in some ways. Curtis has logged 46 snaps this season to Alliegro’s 26, according to Pro Football Focus.

“[Curtis] is a guy [where] the more reps that he's gotten, the more confidence you could just see grow within him. And the other thing you notice about him is he's very conscientious in terms of wanting to do right with his assignments and everything. But he does have the ability that, once he's on the field, to say, ‘I'm not worried about it. I'm just going to play fast.’ So I think you notice, right, wrong or indifferent, he's going to play fast,” Tressel said.

“As he has success, his confidence just grows, but also his teammates’ confidence grows in him. Because obviously our guys believe in Jake Chaney. It's hard to not have a guy like that on the football field, but then as Tackett makes plays, the confidence grows as well, and everybody feels really good about ‘Hey, let's rotate.’ ‘We're good. We're good.’ Regardless, this is a good situation. So it's really as the season progressed and he's got some reps on the field, you could see the confidence skyrocket.”

The defense’s goal of the bye week was simple.

“I think that a focus this past week, and Coach Fick might have mentioned it, is really allowing guys to turn it loose, [with] no thinking out there on the football field," Tressel said.

The Badgers began their season against two run-heavy, conservative offenses, leading to a conservative gameplan on defense. The loss to Alabama showed that, even when the Badgers have to be aggressive, they struggle.

“You have to be completely confident and just want to go tear somebody's head off to do those things. So that's been a focus. We're definitely moving in that direction, there's no doubt about it, but we haven't performed to where our expectations are at all. We've given up too many explosive plays. Some of the fundamental aspects of defense, like leverage and block defeat are not up to our standards, and we're going to continue to work at them, and we have. I think that this past week has been huge for us to sort of refocus. Sometimes you get [caught] in the midst of game planning and you forget what's really important, and I say that as coaches and players and we're a little bit refocused on what's really important to defensive football, and that's getting population to the football and that's having a chip on your shoulder, those types of things.”

Tressel spoke similarly when discussing the need to create turnovers. Through three games, the defense has only turned the ball over twice.

“We need to get more hats to the ball. Very seldom, is it [that] one dude just makes a play, so if we get more hats the ball, with a little bit more intensity about us, they [turnovers] then have a tendency to come in bunches, because you get a little bit of momentum and you see the success,” Tressel said.

During Luke Fickell’s Monday presser, which took place right before Tressel’s, he discussed how most of the team’s issues come down to simple mistakes and miscues in execution.

Tressel elaborated on some of the details they must improve as a defense, and the need to better shed blocks was a major emphasis.

“We do not feel like we call it our block defeat. We call it the difference. We call it the difference. We think it's the difference between good and great, winning and losing, and we need to do a better job of using our hands and getting longer. That'll help us in our transitional pass rush. The hardest pass rush is not when it's third and long. You can't just pin your ears back. You're actually thinking, defend the run first, and then you have to use your transitional pass rush. And it is absolutely critical to play with length and hands in those situations. And that is definitely one of the areas that we're focusing on, whether it's the block defeat in the run game or that transitional pass rush,” Tressel said.

Later in the press conference, he talked more about gap integrity and the need to “create havoc”.

“I think one thing that we're talking about that you can't play in today's world is ‘fitball’, meaning, ‘Okay, I just have my gap and I'm going to take care of my gap.’ It becomes way too passive. So the block destruction is a big one. But the mentality of creating havoc, I think that mentality needs to improve. There's no doubt about that. We need to create a few more negative plays. But where the numbers get ugly is when you give up explosives. So if we can just leverage the ball, do some of those fundamental defensive things, that'll eliminate the explosives, and you'll see a big jump right then and there. And our guys understand that, so I think they will.”

One of the surprise standouts of the season has been true freshman cornerback Xavier Lucas.

He appeared in garbage time of his career debut and managed to catch the defense’s first and only interception of the season so far. But after going from 13 snaps to 26 between the first and second game, he played just seven against Alabama, according to PFF.

Tressel was asked about his potential for more playing time against USC.

“I do expect to have him [this week], but steps still have to be made for that to happen. But I do expect to have him. What stood out — the stage clearly wasn't too big at all. He could handle everything that was thrown at him, whether it's the crowd or the Division-I talent or whatever it is. And he's shown he can make plays on the football. You can coach your tail off on technique, balance, but sometimes just simply the ability to play the football is, yeah, it's something you can prove, but either you have it or you don't. He has the ability to play the football. He's a calm kid, and I do not believe any stage this year will be too big for him,” Tressel said.

During fall camp, we saw a more aggressive approach from Wisconsin’s defense compared to what we’ve seen from these first three games. They sent more pressure at the quarterback while trusting the secondary to stay on their man.

Tressel was asked if we would see more of that strategy.

“I don't think that anybody would ever say they have enough depth in the back end, but with some of the young guys coming along as well, it is a good group. Do we need to be multiple? Yes, absolutely. We need to be multiple. Hopefully, as the season progresses, you see a little bit more of that evolve. You can't put everything into any single game plan. So when you start putting the building blocks together, when teams have to start scouting five games and look at bigger pictures, you see a lot more of that multiplicity. But I do think that there's the ability and intelligence to handle a lot. So hopefully, as the year progresses, we can build,” Tressel said.

After getting torn to shreds by Alabama's Jalen Milroe, the Badgers have a new challenge in Trojan quarterback Miller Moss. Moss isn’t as athletic and won’t bring the same dual-threat capabilities, but is still an elite thrower of the football and has shown some promise so far playing under Lincoln Riley.

So far this season, he’s thrown for 890 yards, five touchdowns and just one pick.

“I’ve been really impressed with him, actually. If you allow him to sit in there and feel comfortable, he can rip it. He can hit spots. You saw third-and-maybe 16 against Michigan this past week, Michigan dropped off into coverage a little bit more, where he had no right finding the touchdown pass [but] he did. He sees it. He knows when to get rid of the ball. He certainly has the arm strength.”

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