MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers were outside in Camp Randall Stadium for their twelfth practice of the spring.
BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene. Here are my three biggest takeaways from Thursday's action.
Offense looks sloppy, depleted
On days like this, when one side dominates the other, the obvious question must be asked — “Is one side really this good, or is the other really this bad?”
The defense deserves a lot of credit for their performance, which I’ll expand on later, but I left practice feeling worse about the offense than better about the defense.
For starters, the offensive line got absolutely steamrolled for two hours. It would be unfair to single any of them out because they all struggled.
Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. didn’t have nearly enough time to let plays develop, or even stand in the pocket. When he was able to get a pass off, his obvious discomfort usually killed any chance of an accurate pass.
Plenty of ink has been spilled about the losses of Tanner Koziol, Mark Hamper and Quincy Burroughs to the transfer portal when it opened up Wednesday. Maybe their departures were the best for all parties, but I couldn’t help but think about them when I watched these receivers and tight ends struggle to make plays for two hours.
At the very least, they need a go-to short yardage weapon. When the Badgers play the best defensive fronts in the Big Ten, and Edwards needs to get the ball out within two seconds, who will he throw to?
Vinny Anthony and Jayden Ballard seem trustworthy, but they’re primarily deep threats, and tight end Tucker Ashcraft simply hasn’t been consistent enough as a receiver.
The best candidate for this role is likely Trech Kekahuna, but we haven’t really seen him in this offense. And they might be putting too many eggs into the basket of a player who has only 29 career receptions. He might be their best bet, unless Ashcraft takes a major step forward before September.
The next time we see this Badger team will be on Saturday when they hold their Spring Showcase, with fans in attendance. If this performance carries over into Saturday, at all, I predict boo birds.
