MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers were back inside the McClain Center for their eleventh practice of the spring.
BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene. Here are my three biggest takeaways from Tuesday's action.
Leyton Nelson improves, but still struggles
Even though there was practice on Thursday, the dominating storyline of the day pertained to what we learned afterwards.
Head coach Luke Fickell told the media that starting left tackle Kevin Heywood is expected to miss the season after suffering an ACL injury.
“I think he’s gonna have to have surgery,” Fickell said after practice.
“We’re probably gonna lose him, and probably not get him back, obviously, for the season. That was one that’s gonna be difficult and tough, but it’s also a part of the game.”
The Badgers have a new top priority — finding a quality starter at one of the most important positions in football. The spring portal window opens up on Wednesday, but Fickell made it seem like he’ll take a serious look at the current backup options.
The first reserve to get a shot was Leyton Nelson, the redshirt junior who transferred from Vanderbilt last spring. We’ve now seen two consecutive practices with him at left tackle. My early verdict — meh.
Nelson’s a solid run blocker but hasn’t impressed me much in pass protection, which is a common learning curve. He helped pave the way for big runs on Tuesday but was also overpowered by a few edge rushers.
Ultimately, it’s still a little too early to judge Nelson; he’s only started in two practices. The first was on Saturday, alongside a fellow reserve in Colin Cubberly, and the two were absolutely decimated. Starting left guard Joe Brunner returned on Tuesday, which made Nelson look exponentially better.
Ultimately, they still have four-and-a-half months to find the right replacement. I imagine they’ll try out Emerson Mandell, who played tackle on the second team last year and has been competing for the starting right guard job.
Perhaps they’ll look to the portal, either to replace Heywood or for depth purposes.
Even though they haven’t made any long-term decisions, it’s Nelson’s job right now. Maybe he’ll play well enough to secure the job. Maybe he’ll flame out.
Regardless, the left tackle sweepstakes have become the new top storyline of spring.
“We’ve been fortunate up front in the last two seasons to have those guys prepared and be able to last through a season. Now we gotta figure out how we’re gonna manage some of that, move some guys around and expect some other guys to step up, whether it’s Leyton Nelson, Emerson Mandell, guys like that gotta step in,” Fickell said.
