Spring practice is firmly in the rear-view mirror and official visit season is just about to heat up. It's an interesting time in the college football calendar, as on one hand recruiting takes center stage while visits and commitments fly like bullets, and on the other hand, team news cools down considerably.

We won't see the Badgers again until they take the field for fall camp in Platteville at the start of August. But we've seen plenty already this offseason, enough to award superlatives for both sides of the ball as summer conditioning draws nearer.

Today. we continue with the defense.

Even if Nyzier Fourqurean is deemed ineligible to play this fall, which seems unlikely at this point, Wisconsin's grizzled secondary is easily the strength of its defense. As of now, the Badgers return their two starting cornerbacks, one starting safety and another safety who played 459 snaps last fall.

Opposite Fourqurean, Ricardo Hallman is a technician on the boundary. His excellent footwork and ball skills dissuade teams from throwing his way: in 2023, he saw 63 targets. Last fall, that number dropped to 34.

Preston Zachman and Austin Brown comprise your starting safety duo, and they've combined for 2,224 career snaps. Zachman is skilled at playing the ball, while Brown is big and physical and should be proficient in run support, especially if he doesn't have to spend the majority of his snaps in the slot like he did last fall.

This secondary has talent and continuity, and is easily the strength of Wisconsin's defense. In 2024, the Badgers' pass defense checked in at No. 14 nationally in terms of yards-per-game allowed. With this unit, another top-20 finish should be expected.

Wisconsin's defensive line looked bigger and more talented in spring practice. That's a start. But the edge is still a major concern for me. I just don't know who, if anyone, coordinator Mike Tressel will be able to rely on to get after the quarterback on passing downs.

Darryl Peterson returns for his redshirt senior season, but he has just 7.5 sacks across 580 career pass-rushing snaps. Aaron Witt returns as well, but he has just one sack across 124 pass-rushing snaps. Last season felt like it was now or never for those two to develop into formidable pass-rushers, and it just didn't happen.

The Badgers have some reinforcements in the form of transfers on the edge, but none of them displayed a consistent ability to rush the passer this spring. Wisconsin's focus appeared primarily to be getting bigger on the edge, which they've accomplished with the likes of jumbo outside backers Corey Walker (6-foot-5, 297 pounds) and Michael Garner (6-foot-6, 300 pounds). That might help the run defense, but this pass-rush remains uninspiring.

Almost no hesitation here. If there's one thing I'm extremely confident in with this defense, it's that Christian Alliegro will become a household name amongst Big Ten linebackers this fall.

He plays with an electric combination of speed and physicality, which, coupled with his inherent instincts, makes him a tackling machine who can both stuff the run and hold down the middle of the field in pass coverage.

In 2024, Alliegro was the second-leading tackler on the Badgers (66) and also tied for the most sacks (3) despite playing the 12th-most snaps on defense. He's a production machine, and as the clear top inside backer this season, he's primed to explode.

Wisconsin's defensive line was dominant in spring camp. However, transfer edge rushers John Pius and Leon Lowery fooled us a year ago with a similarly commanding spring, only to fade into ineptitude by the time the season actually rolled around. Therefore, just because the Badgers new-look defensive front looked the part in a practice setting, I need to see it against a different colored jersey before I believe that Wisconsin fixed its defensive line problems.

UT-Martin transfer Charles Perkins might've had the best spring. At 6-foot-2, 316 pounds and a personality to fit that frame, he's big but simultaneously twitchy. Tulane transfer Parker Peterson's calling card is his strength, and his bull rush was something to behold in camp.

While the defensive front as a whole obviously still struggled last season, the staff nailed their evaluation of FCS Albany transfer Elijah Hills. For this defensive line to improve in 2025, several more players from lower levels of the sport need to pop as well.

USC transfer Tackett Curtis' debut season in Madison was a frustrating one. After getting thrown into the fire as a true freshman in Los Angeles — showing some growing pains but also tantalizing speed and physicality — his snap count dropped from 355 to 183 last fall and as his playing time became more erratic, so did his performance.

That shouldn't be the case in 2025. Curtis is the undisputed starter opposite Alliegro, which I think should help him settle in more. At times last season, it appeared Curtis was thinking too much, or at times perhaps not enough (two personal fouls on the same drive against Nebraska comes to mind). He's at his best when he can play freely and let his natural ability shine.

This isn't an easy one, and not necessarily for a good reason. Wisconsin's defense was utterly devoid of players who could be relied upon to make splash plays last fall. What's more, it's difficult to anoint a transfer, who has yet to don the Motion W in Camp Randall Stadium, as the "most dangerous" considering we ultimately have no idea how their game will translate to the Badgers' defense.

As such, I have to go with the cornerback who picked of seven passes just two seasons ago. As mentioned above, Hallman doesn't get thrown to all that often anymore. It's also worth noting that in coverage, he took a step back in 2024, allowing four touchdowns and a reception percentage of 61.8 per Pro Football Focus. Still, that doesn't tell the whole story; teams often took the easy, underneath throws against him in coverage. Recall how he matched up with the Ducks' dynamic receivers in the Oregon game last year. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel tried one deep shot on him, which he defended perfectly, and proceeded to essentially avoid him for the rest of the evening. Opposing teams respect Hallman, because they know what he can do if their quarterback is lose with the ball in his general vicinity. That's a dangerous player.

Coaches raved this spring about Hallman's physical transformation, how he's bigger, stronger and faster. I'm not sure he recreates his seven-interception season this coming fall, but I do think he bounces back from a quieter 2024 and gives this defense a much-needed injection of playmaking.

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