MADISON — I caught my second spring practice of the offseason Saturday morning, alongside staff writers Donnie Slusher and Cam Wilhorn, who have been in the trenches since spring ball kicked off.

It was a long practice, with lots of 11-on-11s in the second half of the session especially. Without further ado, let's get into what caught my eye from spring practice No. 10

You'll hear a lot about the defensive line from any reporter who was at practice today, and rightfully so. You'll also hear about how the Badgers' patchwork offensive line, missing two presumed starters, was a catalyst for the explosion of playmaking from the defensive trenches.

I wasn't sold on Wisconsin's revamped defensive line room — not yet. FCS and Group of Five transfers, none of whom had particularly notable production, didn't exactly fill me with optimism. But after watching them put on an absolute clinic up front Saturday, I think the staff might have made some fantastic evaluations in the transfer portal.

In individual drills before 11-on-11s started, defensive line coach EJ Whitlow put an emphasis on "getting north and south." His players proceeded to do exactly that.

Parker Petersen, out of Tulane, is incredibly strong. On one of the first plays of 11-on-11s, he unleashed a big bull rush on an interior lineman, essentially walking him back to the quarterback to blow up the play.

At 320 pounds (up from 312 last season), Brandon Lane is the second-biggest defensive lineman behind Ben Barten (323 pounds). On one play, he powered his way into the backfield right through the teeth of the offensive line, swatting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr's pass as he tried to dump it off.

I could keep going. The defensive line, one of the weakest links on the entire team last season, had its best day of practice I've seen in my time covering the Badgers. Again, the injury-riddled offensive line certainly played a factor, but these defensive tackles are big, strong and appear plenty hungry.