MADISON, Wis. - Every spring camp brings opportunities for young players to step up. It is a time to hone your craft and make the most of the reps that you get - in the hopes of securing a starting spot, or at least putting yourself in the conversation.

Wisconsin’s soon-to-be redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen knows that better than most. With so many familiar faces set to return to the team for 2018, Van Lanen has been given a chance to shake things up a bit - if he can show the coaching staff that he’s worthy of starting at left tackle this year.

Michael Deiter is coming off of a solid season playing left tackle last year, but it is not a secret that the senior prefers to play inside - and that his future at the next level is at either guard or center. UW offensive line coach Joe Rudolph said as much last year, and in an ideal world they would like to put their best five players on the field at the position that they feel most comfortable playing.

That wasn’t in the cards in 2017. Wisconsin’s depth at left tackle wasn’t where the coaching staff wanted it to be last fall after the early departure of Ryan Ramczyk to the NFL, so they moved Deiter to tackle in order to both move Tyler Biadasz up to the first team at center and play their best five linemen at one time.

But with Deiter sitting out for all of spring camp to rehab a nagging right leg injury the Badgers have moved Van Lanen up to the first team at left tackle, where he has taken every rep with the starters during practices that have been open to the media. It’s not a guarantee of playing time - but if he plays his cards right and makes the most of those consistent reps he could convince Rudolph and the coaches to leave him at left tackle in the fall when Deiter is healthy.

“Coach Rudy, he’s all about playing the best five,” Van Lanen said after practice last week. “I just have to show what I have and that I can play. And if he thinks that I’m part of that best five, that’s the ultimate goal. I’m not trying to move people around or anything - I’m just trying to play the best that I can and get on the field.”

At the least, getting on to the field won’t be a new experience for Van Lanen if he does crack the starting lineup this fall. The Badgers worked him onto the field in certain situations late last year and lined him up as a blocking tight end, and Van Lanen said that getting in-game action was a confidence booster.

It was also a sign of Wisconsin’s improved depth at the position - just a few years removed from a season where the Badgers were hard pressed to fill out their starting lineup, let alone a second or third string offensive line. Even having the option of mixing and matching the first team offensive line would have been almost unthinkable to the Badgers in 2015, when they ended up playing four redshirt freshmen out of necessity - not luxury.

“If you look at Beau and Deiter’s class, there wasn’t much depth at all,” Van Lanen said. “Beau just had to play because that’s all they had. Now there’s so much depth that we can make three strings. That’s not how it was when I got here. Now there’s a ton of depth. Pretty much everyone is play-eligibile now. There’s just a lot of competition.”

That depth is playing in to Van Lanen’s hands now, and he’s looking to make the most of it. With another nine practices left in spring camp to make his mark, we’ll see the former four-star prospect can use this time to give the Badgers what they are looking for: one more potential starter they can use to put their five best linemen on the field in the fall.

“Every day it’s just about picking one thing and getting better at it,” Van Lanen said when asked what his focus is this spring. “It’s a big moment for all of us. There’s a lot competition, and pretty much spring (camp) determines how fall is going to go.”

It certainly does. And if Van Lanen takes the right steps forward over the rest of camp, he could make Rudolph’s job a little easier this fall when it comes time to sketch out the 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.