MADISON — The dreary months of winter have come and gone, and so has a significant portion of the offseason. Wisconsin’s football team took to the McClain Center on Wednesday for its penultimate spring practice.

BadgerBlitz.com had boots on the ground at the McClain Center and will be in attendance for Thursday’s spring finale.

Here are some notes from Wednesday’s practice:

The search for a Kevin Heywood replacement continued Wednesday, though left tackle work with the ones was limited to Leyton Nelson and Joe Brunner. Nelson handled most of the reps, and had a decent day.

When Brunner worked in, Colin Cubberly slotted in at left guard. Luke Fickell named Emerson Mandell as another player who could step up, but early indications are that he’ll be more of a versatile depth piece rather than an impact starter. Kerry Kodanko has seemingly separated himself as the frontrunner for the starting right guard spot.

Quarterbacks Billy Edwards and Danny O’Neil had an up-and-down day. Edwards threw a pair of interceptions and missed some passes. However, his deep accuracy was on full display. Edwards hit Jayden Ballard on three different deep balls for touchdowns.

Ballard torched Nyzier Fourqurean on two of those purely with speed, while the third was more of a result an excellent play by Edwards. Edwards rolled out to his left after faking a run to the right and uncorked a pass 40 yards downfield straight into the waiting arms of Ballard on a deep crosser.

O’Neil’s lows weren’t as low as Edwards', but his highs weren’t as high. O’Neil completed several passes off-platform at various depths. He dropped his arm slot to avoid a pass rusher and completed a checkdown pass to Gideon Ituka.

Playing through what was probably a sack, O’Neil rolled out left and fired a dart to Davion Thomas-Kumpula for a toe-tap completion of roughly 20 yards. Shortly after, O’Neil threw a tight-window pass between two defenders to Jackson McGohan up the seam for a touchdown.

Individually, McGohan had an excellent practice. In addition to the touchdown catch, he took a short completion and used his speed to get to the sideline for a massive gain, and he also ran some impressive routes during one-on-ones with linebackers. The redshirt sophomore still has a wiry frame, but his athleticism and pass-catching capabilities warrant some enthusiasm.