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 the Badger's 2019 spring camp and see what we learned across the UW depth chart.
Miss a position group? Catch up below.
QUARTERBACKS | RUNNING BACKS | WIDE RECEIVERS | TIGHT ENDS | OFFENSIVE LINE
What We Learned
Unlike Wisconsin's offensive line, most of the faces we saw on last year's defensive line will be back on the team in 2019. The exceptions (senior nose guard Olive Sagapolu and defensive end Kayden Lyles) either missed half the season to give way to a new starter (Sagapolu) or moved back to the offensive side of the ball after the team's depth crisis ended (Lyles). That means that end Isaiahh Loudermilk, nose tackle Bryson Williams, end Matt Henningsen, and end David Pfaff will all be back to help the line try and get back to the level we saw over the last few years, when they were able to stopper opposing run games and get some pressure on the quarterback.
The Badgers did get some good news in that junior defensive end Garrett Rand is on schedule to return to the field in 2019 after he missed all of last season with a torn achilles tendon. The Badgers missed the veteran presence Rand would have brought to the table last year, and if his rehab continues on schedule then he should slot in to the first team at defensive end, alongside Loudermilk. Rand's return should give the Badgers a boost in both run-stopping and pass rushing - and getting him through spring camp without any setbacks means the Badgers accomplished one of the key steps for this position group in the offseason.
What's Left?
There's a caveat that comes with bringing almost all of your significant contributors back for another season: just because a player was here last year doesn't necessarily mean they will take a linear step forward in the next season. The good news is that it seems like injuries and the resulting lack of depth played more of a role in taking the UW defensive line down a peg than anything else last year - although some recruiting misses in previous seasons didn't help, either. The big question the Badgers will need to answer this fall is if they can take a step forward from last year when they have their healthy players in place. A rejuvenated defensive line would go a long way towards shoring up the defense as a whole in 2019, but we might have to wait until the season really begins to see if a year's worth of growth panned out for the Badgers.
Projected Fall Camp Depth Chart
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.