Wisconsin's 15 spring practices are in the books, which means it's time to take a look back at what we learned at each position group during camp and see what the Badgers still need to work out before they kick off their 2018 season against Western Kentucky on Friday, Aug. 31.
Our look back at Wisconsin's defensive line is included below.
QUARTERBACKS / RUNNING BACKS / WIDE RECEIVERS / TIGHT ENDS / OFFENSIVE LINE
What We Learned
Spring camp confirmed our suspicions about Wisconsin's new-look first team defensive line on Day 1 when Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk stepped in at defensive end on either side of nose guard Olive Sagapolu. They have big shoes to fill in replacing Chikwe Obasih, Alec James and Conor Sheehy, but the coaching staff has confidence that they can get the job done.
We also saw incoming freshman Bryson Williams get plenty of reps behind Sagapolu, shoring up UW's depth at an important position on their two-deep. Williams is physically ready to play, but he's still digesting the playbook and refining his technique. Enrolling early paid off big time for him - it gave him an extra semester to learn the defense before the games start in the fall.
What's Left?
We have a better idea of the depth behind Loudermilk and Rand at defensive end now than we did at the start of spring, but the Badgers are still looking to see just how many guys they can trust to put into their two-deep rotation this fall. Redshirt freshman Aaron Vopal got plenty of reps in the spring and appears to be on the verge of securing a spot in the rotation, and you'd expect one of David Pfaff, Keldric Preston, and Kraig Howe to be in the mix as well. But the full two-deep at defensive end is up in the air at the moment, and one of Wisconsin's big challenges during camp will be to identify who they can put in to games and who needs to stay on the sidelines.
Projected Fall Camp Depth Chart
___________________________________________________
John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.
