Offensive linemen Michael Furtney, Trey Wedig discuss rotation at guard

Madison — When it became clear that presumed starting center Jake Renfro wouldn’t be able to play early in the season, Wisconsin had to get creative with its offensive line.

New offensive line coach Jack Bicknell’s solution? Heavy rotation at the guard spots. With Tanor Bortolini, who the staff would likely prefer to play guard, starting at center, Michael Furtney and Trey Wedig have been rotating alongside Joe Huber on a drive-by-drive basis.

On the team’s official two-deep, Furtney is listed as the starting right guard and Huber is listed as the starting left guard. Meanwhile, Wedig is listed as the backup right tackle, although he hasn’t played a single snap at tackle this season. It’s a convoluted situation, to be sure.

“Frankly, I didn’t have a whole ton of an idea,” Wedig said in regards to his expectations of where and when he would play this season. “I knew I was gonna play, but I wasn’t sure how much or where really.”

The goal of all this rotation, according to Luke Fickell, is rather simple.

“We want to come out at the end of the game and have equal time between Trey, Joe Huber and Michael Furtney. That’s kind of been the M.O. of the last couple weeks, I feel like we’ve been on pace with that,” he said. “Sometimes we’ve been a little bit off based on a longer series, this that and the other thing. Michael and Joe Huber have been starters, and Trey’s been the first guy rotating in, I think in the third series. Those guys have handled it great, I think it gives us some flexibility. Trey’s still a guy that pops out at tackle if we need to as well. So we feel like we’ve got, for sure, six starters up front.”

Overall, the numbers tell a slightly different story. Furtney and Huber have played nearly the same amount of snaps at 271 and 263, while Wedig has logged 188, according to Pro Football Focus. Nonetheless, across the past three games, the snap counts have been pretty equal, with no guard logging over 12 more snaps than the least-utilized of the trio.

“It was one of those things that Coach Bicknell was very clear about the minute he got here. He wanted to find as many guys that could play at a high level. He calls it the group 1-A, 1-B,” Furtney said. “So I look at in a way, I knew it was gonna happen so I take advantage of it. Sometimes it’s a little weird, like in the middle of a drive, you’re like, ‘alright, next time I’m gonna get out there.’ You have something in your head, and actually next time you’re not going out. But other than that, I just try to take advantage of it the best I can.”

For Furtney and Wedig, the situation isn’t exactly ideal from a personal standpoint. Furtney, now in his sixth year with the program, was looking to hold down a starting spot in what will be his sendoff season. As for Wedig, he developed into a reliable and versatile starter last season, only to be used rotationally as a sixth man.

“It’s part of the game…there’s always gonna be moments where you feel like a dog on a leash a little bit…If they wanna give me more reps, I’m ready to do it. If they give me less, I mean obviously you never wanna take less, but I also know I’ll be able to handle whatever they throw at me in those situations,” Furtney said.

“The way I see it is, I can talk with Furtney and Huber and kind of ease into it,” Wedig told BadgerBlitz.com. “Sometimes when you go in, you’re not quite used to it. You get the look that they just had. So there’s that, and also, Furtney, he’s really good at communicating what was in the game. Helping make sure that when I get in, things are smooth and oiled up. It’s also a benefit for all three of us, we’re taking a little less reps, so that way when we come off, a series that we run in we’re full go.”

With the constant rotation of playing and sitting on the bench, is it hard for Wedig and Furtney to stay dialed in throughout the course of a game?

“Honestly not really,” Wedig said plainly. “I don’t know why, but things kinda go smooth for me.”

Furtney shared a similar outlook: “I wouldn’t say so. A guy like Jake Renfro, knows a lot about football, been around the game forever. I trust his opinion a lot, so what I’ll do when I go off to the sideline is I’ll go up to him…Also, if you’re out there playing the game, competing, if you’re that easily knocked out of focus, I think you might have a few other problems.”

Every week, Fickell expresses optimism that Renfro will be ready to return momentarily. That hasn’t happened quite yet, though, and while the center remains sidelined, expect the rotation at guard to continue.

“It’s one of those things where if it keeps working, they’re gonna keep doing it,” Furtney said. “If it somehow causes a problem in the future or it isn’t working, they might go back to the drawing board. But to my knowledge, it’s probably gonna continue.”

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