MADISON -- Luke Fickell and the Badgers had their 15th and final practice of the spring on Thursday morning on Wisconsin's outdoor practice field. They spent about 30 minutes doing traditional work with position groups and in 11-on-11s, then devoted the remainder of practice to a special teams-centric scrimmage.
BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene for the final practice of spring camp. Here are some notes from Thursday's session.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE
There were only about 30 minutes of 11-on-11 work, without much rotation flexibility, but certain players still took far greater advantage of the limited reps than others.
In a surprising turn, Braedyn Locke earned more reps with the first team than Tyler Van Dyke, and he had a great day.
He benefited from a superb day from the receivers, who dominated the pre-special teams portion of practice.
Receiver coach Kenny Guiton made it clear when speaking to the media on Wednesday that the second perimeter receiver position is still far from decided, and it seems as if his group was listening.
C.J. Williams caught a slant from Locke and juked and dashed past every defender in sight, turning a five-yard catch into a 40-yard gain.
They also found creative ways to use some of their receivers in the backfield, giving Trech Kekahuna a reverse and throwing a few screens to Tyrell Henry.
Locke also connected with Quincy Burroughs for one of the most impressive throws and passes of all of spring. On the last play before the special teams period, Locke sailed it about 40 yards to the left side of the end zone, where Burroughs rose up above Jonas Duclona and Braedyn Moore to make a mind-boggling touchdown catch. It was so impressive that nearly the entire offense ran up to Burroughs and swarmed him.
Most of the defense struggled during 11-on-11s. The edge rushers were contained by the offensive tackles. The defensive backs allowed the receivers to have a field day.
But the inside linebackers did actually have a rather impressive day.
Christian Alliegro looked great in run support, and even fully extended his body and leaped into the air for a pass deflection. Sebastian Cheeks didn’t play much at all in 11-on-11s, but did look incredibly impressive and athletic in a drill which pitted the running backs against the linebackers.
