Following the fifth practice of spring camp on Friday, outside linebackers coach Bobby April, along with four players at the position, met with the local media.

The topics discussed included Aaron Witt's physicality, Spencer Lytle's leap forward and Noah Burks' decision to return for a sixth season.

Nick Herbig couldn't help but smile when asked about teammate Aaron Witt. At 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds, the second-year player, who has impressed so far in spring practice, has all the physical tools to make plays on the edge.

"Witt’s a dog," Herbig said in a Zoom call with reporters Friday morning. "He doesn’t always get his job done in the prettiest way, but he gets the job done. He's scratching, clawing every play. He values every rep that Coach April gives him.

"I’m really impressed with the way Witt has come along. He’s come a long way. He’s going to be a great asset to our defense and especially in our linebacker room."

Like Herbig, April pointed to the attitude Witt has when asked what separates the young linebacker.

"Aaron’s built different and I’m not talking about physicality, length and all that, but his mindset towards the game is a different factor," April explained. "The guy is a guy that you want in a street fight with you. He has no fear to put his face into the boiler and come out. He ticks different and he helps our room because if you're wanting to look for a physical play, he’s going to try and find it and it’s hard to coach that.

"It’s hard to coach someone to put his body or whatever it may be on the line for you, and he’ll do that without even blinking. So that’s the fun part about Aaron."

Witt's totals as a true freshman were limited - three tackles and one sack. But finishing off the season with a sack and forced fumble in the Duke's Mayo Bowl against Wake Forest could serve as a spring board for a big off-season.

"Starting in fall camp last year, I wasn’t very good," Witt said. "Just had to keep chipping away to keep getting better and found myself on the field and made the first meaningful play of the game. It felt awesome. It was like a dream come true and now I am looking to build off that play and build off that bowl game heading into next year."

Rounding out the depth at outside linebacker, redshirt sophomore Spencer Lytle is another player who has taken a step forward for reps in the two-deep. Lytle, who has dealt with injuries during his time at Wisconsin, is finally healthy and putting it all together.

"He came in as a mid-year and actually showed up as a good player early," April, detailing Lytle's time since enrolling early in the spring of 2019, said. "His first camp when we came back, you’re excited about what we get, what we can get out of him coming into the summer and fall there and he gets hurt, so he misses all fall camp. As soon as he comes back, he gets banged up.

"So, really, this is the first time he knows the defense, first time he’s been healthy for an entire off-season to build into what he’s become. He’s put up great numbers, his speed has increased. The speed of the game is not too big. The physicality of the game is not too big, so I’ve enjoyed working with him. He's definitely a guy that's going to pop out there."

Lytle, a former four-star recruit coming out of high school, played in five games and recorded two tackles in 2020. He's looking to improve upon those numbers this fall.

"The guy who has made the biggest step is Spencer Lytle," Burks said. "I think it's a testament to his work in the off-season. He's made some really big strides so far and I think he's been doing well this spring."

This off-season, seniors were offered the unique opportunity to return for an extra year of eligibility. And one of those student-athletes who took advantage of the option was Noah Burks. Not much, if anything, was normal about this past season and for Burks, he missed the game-day atmosphere at Camp Randall Stadium.

"Ultimately it came down to me just wanting to play football here, take another year here and continue to develop my skillset," Burks said. "That’s what led to the decision. I thought they did a good job of handling everything last year with COVID, but one aspect I really missed was just that true game-day experience at Camp Randall and I felt robbed of that. Just wanting to continue to develop as a player here was a big thing and I felt I could do that here."

Noah Burks: Has been held out of practice due to COVID protocols, according to a UW official.

Izayah Green-May: Green-May has yet to practice. April said he has been on the field but isn't in pads.

Kaden Johnson: Johnson has been out while dealing with a hamstring injury. April said they're hoping to get him back in one week.

Nick Herbig:

"I was definitely not happy at all with the impact I made on the team. I feel like I could have made so much more of an impact in many ways. I feel like that’s a big part of me and I need to be better at that and work harder because what I was doing last year wasn’t enough, so I need to go harder. I definitely had the feeling at the end of last season like I didn’t leave it all out there and I let my team down."