Wisconsin's 2018 football season is right around the corner, with fall camp expected to start at the end of the month. With that in mind, BadgerBlitz.com will be running through the burning questions the Badgers are facing at each position group as they look to build on last year's 13-1 season.
Position Primer
Wisconsin's offensive line always has lofty expectations to life up to, and the 2017 season was no exception. The Badgers returned four starters from their 2016 unit, with the exception of Ryan Ramczyk, who left the team a year early and was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Ramczyk's departure forced the Badgers to find another solution at left tackle - but the one they settled on wasn't the first option they tried out. When redshirt freshman Tyler Biadasz emerged as a a viable candidate to start at center, the Badgers wound up moving Michael Deiter out to left tackle to put their best five linemen on the field. Deiter played well on the outside for UW, but it was not his natural position.
That's why the goal for the Badgers this fall is to find their best five offensive linemen - and move Deiter back to the inside, probably at left guard, if they can. The good news for the Badgers is that their entire depth chart is slated to return - all of last year's starters, and some younger players who took steps forward during spring camp as well. It's enough to make some think that if the Badgers can move Deiter inside and find a suitable replacement at left guard they could have their best offensive line in years during the 2018 season.
One Burning Question: Can Wisconsin's offensive line live up to the hype?
The Badgers have had some pretty dominant offensive lines ever since Barry Alvarez took over as the program's head coach in the late 1980s - and Wisconsin's back-to-back-to-back Rose Bowl teams in 2010, 2011, and 2012 had some of the best offensive lines in team history.
So when people talk about the Badgers potentially having one of their best offensive lines in team history in 2018, they are setting the bar pretty darn high. There are a few players on the two-deep at the moment with NFL ambitions in Deiter, Benzschawel and Edwards, but the other players like Biadasz and Cole Van Lanen, among others, still have a few years before their names would start popping up on draft boards.
To be in the discussion as one of Wisconsin's best offensive lines this year's group will need to gel together quickly and help the offense as a whole capitalize on their potential. They need to pave the way for Jonathan Taylor and the other running backs, and give quarterback Alex Hornibrook a chance to stay upright and use the weapons he has at his disposal.
It's certainly possible for this year's offensive line to live up to the hype - but it's going to take a lot of hard work for them to get there.
Micro-Blitz
In preparing for our fall camp series, Jon McNamara and John Veldhuis sat down to break down what they are expecting to see out of Wisconsin's position groups during the pre-season. Their conversation is included below.
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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.
