MADISON - Fifteen starters - eight on offense and seven on defense - return for a Wisconsin team that finished 11-3 a year ago, a season capped off by a victory in the Cotton Bowl over Western Michigan.
As expected, expectations are at an elevated level in Madison with fall camp set to open Saturday. The goal, according to junior running back Chris James, is to be the best team in college football.
"Absolutely," James said Friday when asked about a national championship. "Nothing more, nothing less - national championship, for sure. We have the group to do it. We have guys that are willing to work, we have a tremendous offensive line and tremendous defensive line returning back - stars and studs and tremendous coaches.
"So why not, why not us? We work as hard as anyone else with the same amount of practices. Why not us?"
Not only are the Badgers bringing back multiple projected starters, head coach Paul Chryst's group has 52 returning lettermen from 2016. Wisconsin should also have at least 10 starters from the senior class on the field for the season opener against Utah State.
"One thing I will say is that there's a lot of older guys around, so everyone feels a little more comfortable around each other then in the past, which is cool," senior tight end Troy Fumagalli said Friday. "I think in any college football locker room, that's kind of the buzz. Especially here, we do a great job of understanding that it's going to take one game at a time and Rome's not built in one day."
Senior cornerback Derrick Tindal, who has played in 38 games with 21 career starts, talked about the heightened focus inside UW's locker room.
"I've never really been part of a team that's so locked in at every position," Tindal said. "Everyone that I talk to, I've never seen this many people locked in. Like I said, this is the most athletic team I've ever been part of, but we have to put it together.
"That (national championship) should be the talk of every team. We talk about it, but are we going to put in the work to get it? Are we going to actually bring the team together enough to actually get to the national championship? We'll see by the end of the season. But we're definitely talking about it, but who's not talking about it?"
Fifth-year senior Leon Jacobs, who has experience on both sides of the ball, was a bit more reserved when asked about title talk in the locker room.
"Oh, they have?" Jacobs responded when told other players mentioned a national title at UW's media day.
A projected starter at outside linebacker, Jacobs talked about last year's loss to Penn State in the Big Ten title game. The goal is to return to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, this time with a different result.
"From last year we were what, two or three plays away from winning the Big Ten championship?" Jacobs said. "I don't know what would have happened after that, but this year our goal is to win the Big Ten championship. And usually if you're one of those teams you have a good chance of going to the playoffs. I think it's very realistic for this team."
Chryst, who is 21-6 after two years in Madison, talked about Wisconsin's experience at the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago.
"We've got a lot of guys that have played in a number of big games and won a lot of them and have lost some of them," Chryst said. "And they do a good job, I think, of sharing that with the other kids, of how you approach it.
"I think the biggest thing we've got to do is give ourselves the best chance each week, because we know every game is a great opportunity. I think that's one thing that a lot of those kids I think learned last year, and we've got to make sure that we take what was learned and continue to build on the way you approach each week. But we do have a lot of guys - really good senior class - a lot of guys that have played in a lot of big games, and they're learning as they go through it. But I think together we've just got to make sure we keep our focus where it should be."
