Wisconsin Badgers 2023 Spring Position Preview: Wide Receivers

As Luke Fickell's first season in Madison draws closer, the Badgers will hit the field for spring practice starting in late March.

Following its Pro Day on March 23, UW will run spring ball between March 25 and April 27 this year, according to a recent social media post. With a completely revamped coaching staff, a few key incoming transfers and brand new schematics, Wisconsin football will look plenty different in 2023. Spring ball will be the first glimpse at this new era.

BadgerBlitz.com is once again expected to watch any open practices available for reporters to attend. On Wednesday, we take a look at the wide receivers, a room that was second only to quarterback in excitement generated this offseason.

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Wisconsin is sitting on potentially its most exciting wide receiver room in some time, with an influx of transfers and very little production to replace. Dean Engram, who posted 13 catches for 152 yards in 2022, is the only scholarship receiver to depart for the Badgers.

Last season, Wisconsin focused heavily on their top five receivers, going further down the depth chart only for gadget plays or mop-up duty. With Phil Longo implementing his spread offense, which simply puts more receivers on the field, plenty of pass-catchers should get the chance to make a significant impact.

The position will once again be led by senior Chimere Dike. Dike was Graham Mertz's go-to target a season ago, pacing the Badgers in targets by a wide margin. He put up a career year, with 47 catches for 689 yards and seven touchdowns, but still lacked the consistency of a true, top-end X receiver. Dike has strong hands but at times struggled with drops, recording five on the season, per Pro Football Focus. Sometimes his chemistry with Mertz looked tight, and other times the two were clearly not on the same page. With Wisconsin deploying a revamped passing game for the 2023 season, Dike has a chance to silence his doubters and become that true No. 1 option the Badgers have lacked.

Perhaps the most talented of the returning pass-catchers, Skyler Bell looks ready to take a big step forward. The Bronx, New York native is a silky smooth route-runner, and dangerous with the ball in his hands after the catch. Slightly shorter and slimmer than the Badgers' other top wide outs, Bell brings some diversity to the receiver room. He was named an honorable mention freshman All-American by College Football News following the 2022 season, and will look to build on what's been a promising start to his career.

Other returning receivers expected to contribute this fall include Keontez Lewis, Vinny Anthony, Chris Brooks Jr. and Markus Allen. The latter's situation is murky, as he entered the transfer portal only to remove his name following the hiring of Longo. Regardless, the returning talent offers some very solid depth for the Badgers. Lewis put forth a modest stat line his first season in Madison, but he was Mertz's deep threat more often than not, leading the Badgers with an 18.8 average depth-of-target mark. He was also targeted 10 times in contested-catch situations, and came down with four of them. With all of the fanfare around the receiver room, Lewis' may fly under the radar. Regardless, he's more than ready to contribute.

Anthony saw limited action as a true freshman, but he's an intriguing player going into his second year. He didn't tally a reception, but Wisconsin tried to get him the ball on a few sweeps and reverses throughout the year. On one humorous occasion, Mertz thought he had a touchdown while he was still six yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Brooks is another returning receiver that could be poised to contribute. The redshirt freshman received some hype from his teammates during bowl prep, and while he's buried on the depth chart, his tools could intrigue the coaching staff.

The buzz around Wisconsin's receivers, however, has been mainly focused on their newcomers, and for good reason. The Badgers cleaned up in the transfer portal at wide out, and they appear pretty loaded for the present and future.

The headliner of the transfer portal class at receiver is USC transfer CJ Williams. A standout from the prestigious Mater Dei high school in California, Williams could've played college ball anywhere he wanted. He elected to join Lincoln Riley and the Trojans in Southern California, and had a very quiet freshman year. He then elected to take his talents to Madison, and in doing so became the highest-rated receiver the Badgers have signed in the internet recruiting era. With the returning production Wisconsin has, though, he'll have to earn his playing time.

Bryson Green, a transfer from Oklahoma State, is another exciting pickup. He was a big-play threat in Stillwater, and will be a favorite to run with the starters his first season with the Badgers.

Wisconsin also reeled in two transfer wide outs from Cincinnati, Quincy Burroughs and Will Pauling. Both are relatively inexperienced, as Pauling has 13 career catches and Burroughs logged just five snaps with the Bearcats. They too will need to work their way up the depth chart, but they're still talented players whose familiarity with Luke Fickell should help them.

At least on paper, Wisconsin's wide receivers are as deep as they've ever been. Spring and fall practices will be critical for that unit to build rapport with the new quarterbacks and begin to develop chemistry.

Wisconsin's receiver room may have some new, talented faces, but they return a good amount of production as well. Between Dike, Bell and Lewis, all of whom should factor into the Badgers' passing attack heavily, Wisconsin returns 97 catches, 1,446 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Where does that leave the transfers? There's quite a lot for new position coach Mike Brown to sort through in his first year in Madison.

Some are expected to be ready to contribute immediately, like Green. The former Cowboy would've been second on the Badgers in receiving yards, catches and scores a season ago, and he's proved he can add a dynamic element to an offense.

"(Green) is a very physical wide receiver, he made a lot of plays for those guys down the field, and again excited to have him as well," Brown noted in a recent media session.

Then there's the highly-touted Williams, who carries an impressive pedigree but hasn't done much of anything at the college level yet. He also happened to be stuck behind the likes of former Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison and five-star recruit Mario Williams in the Trojans' high-flying offense.

"(Williams) is a very competitive young man, he has great quickness. Good ball skills. I think he’s going to be a good playmaker for us. I’m excited to get to work with him," Brown said of the USC transfer.

And how about Burroughs and Pauling, who must acclimate to the Big Ten?

"We had the two guys come from Cincinnati in Quincy Burroughs and Will Pauling. Quincy was a true freshman for us last year, so he didn’t play. Redshirted for us but he has a lot of talent that we’ll continue to work to develop and see how his future plays out. And then Will Pauling played for us last year. Split some time in the slot with our starting slot receiver and he’s a little jitterbug, playmaker, super competitive, so it’s a good group. A good group of guys to add to what we already have here, and I’m excited to get my hands on everybody and work with everyone."

There's still plenty of time for the receivers to sort themselves out during the season, but spring ball will offer the first glimpse of who's on the inside track to earn playing time this fall.

With the replenishing of Wisconsin's wide outs by way of the transfer portal, and the top three receivers from a season ago returning, there's intrigue up and down the depth chart. However, two names stand out as especially fascinating.

Anthony, as previously mentioned, was used as a gadget player as a true freshman. The Badgers' clearly liked his speed, and for good reason. Watching him in last year's fall camp, his track background is apparent. The receiver almost glides in the open field, with smooth, long strides.

Anthony couldn't break away on any of his carries as a freshman, but the ability is clearly there. Longo should be sketching up a few plays for the redshirt freshman to get the ball in the open field. Anthony, still without a collegiate reception, doesn't figure to be heavily involved in pass sets, at least right away. However, he's got the tools to carve out a role.

Williams may be the more obvious choice here, but as the highest-rated wide out the Badgers have ever lured to Madison, he's already under a massive spotlight.

What jumps about about the former Trojan are his ball skills and catch radius. Offenses need the finesse receivers, the shifty route-runners that are always open. But sometimes, a quarterback needs to put up a 50-50 ball and trust that his guy will make it more of an 80-20. That's the skillset Williams offers.

Unlike Anthony, Williams is a lock to get plenty of looks this spring. How well he plays in practice, as well as how quickly he can acclimate to a new offense, will be major factors in where he stands on the depth chart going into the summer.

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