Spring Practice Report No. 11: Van Dyke, Green put on passing exhibition

MADISON -- Luke Fickell and the Badgers had their 11th practice of spring on Tuesday morning inside the McClain Center. Tyler Van Dyke had another standout day, widening the gap in the quarterback battle, while younger pieces in the front seven are beginning to see more action as spring practice winds down.

BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene for the 11th of 15 practices, and will be in attendance throughout the duration of spring. Here are some notes from Tuesday's session.

In terms of the ongoing quarterback battle, Van Dyke had the definite upper hand on Tuesday. Most of the biggest plays of the day were Van Dyke’s deep throws to the sideline. He’s shown flashes of his superb deep accuracy, but never as consistently as on Tuesday.

Conversely, Braedyn Locke had perhaps his most up-and-down day of spring practice yet. Tuesday featured his most passes that were completely off-target, but he still made a few big throws. Given his inherent disadvantage in height and athleticism, Locke can’t afford to also fall behind in accuracy and consistency.

Each quarterback benefitted from some superb receiver play on the perimeter.

Bryson Green made a series of tough, contested catches that nobody else on the roster can make as consistently. He even completely leaped in the air above Austin Brown on one particular catch in the end zone.

Also contributing multiple eye-popping catches on Tuesday was C.J. Williams, Green’s partner on the perimeter. Williams isn’t as physical as Green, but he was still able to outrun defensive backs and contort his body to make some tough catches on the sideline.

At running back, a somewhat fading name had a standout day. For perhaps the first time this spring, Jackson Acker looked the best of any running back. He’s gotten somewhat lost on the depth chart with the return of Chez Mellusi, the acquisition of Tawee Walker, and the improvement of fellow returnees Cade Yacamelli and Nate White.

But ever since Braelon Allen left for the NFL Draft, Acker has become the strongest, most physical and hardest to tackle of any Badger running back on the roster. I’m not sure how much he’ll play come the start of the season, but I still expect him to serve an important role given his unique skill set.

Gideon Ituka was practicing off to the side, which created more opportunities for Acker.