MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers were back inside the McClain Center for their fifteenth and final practice of the spring.
BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene. Here are my three biggest takeaways from Wednesday's action.
Vakos wins field goal battle
The first hour of practice went as usual, but in the second hour of practice, the team held a special teams scrimmage. We watched nothing but kicking and punting for an hour.
Atticus Bertrams had a strong day, but the attention was grabbed by the two top kickers. Nathaniel Vakos and Gavin Lahm faced off in a field goal battle. Vakos has been the starter for the past two years, but Fickell made it known that the position is far from locked down.
“It’s gonna be one of those ones that we’re gonna have to figure out,” coach Luke Fickell said on April 15.
“I don’t know that either one just wants to be a kickoff specialist, and I respect that. We did a good job of being able to keep both of those guys because they both have a really unique skill set, but there’s still a little bit of a difference. Lahm, by nature, does have a bigger leg on some of those really long ones, but Vakos, just the other day, was pretty consistent with his 55-yarders as well.”
It was tough to gauge their progress throughout the spring because the kickers only attempted two or three field goals per practice. We got a much better look Thursday.
Vakos seems to still be in the lead. He made six-of-seven field goals, converting from 42, 43, 50, 50, 52 and 53 yards, for an average distance of 48.3 yards. His only miss came from 52, which doinked off the upright.
Lahm, on the other hand, made just three of his six attempts converting from 42, 54 and 54 yards. Fickell was right about him having a stronger leg. Distance wasn’t an issue on any of his misses. There was a 54-yard attempt that could have converted from 64, yet it sailed right.
Regardless of Fickell’s mid-April comments, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a position battle here. Vakos is the guy. But if he struggles like he did last year, I wouldn’t be shocked if the coaches turn to Lahm.
