Wisconsin Badgers Fall Camp Preview: Wide Receivers

MADISON, Wis. - With Wisconsin’s fall camp beginning, BadgerBlitz.com will run through each position group to break down what we know about the 2020 Badgers. Preparing for the season opener on Oct. 24 against Illinois, we continue with examining the wide receiver position.

Previews: QBs | RBs/FBs |

Who’s Back: R-Seniors Jack Dunn, Kendric Pryor and Adam Krumholz, Senior Danny Davis, R-Sophomores A.J. Abbott, Mike Gregoire and Taj Mustapha, R-Freshmen Stephan Bracey, Jordan DiBenedetto and Cooper Nelson.

Who’s Gone: A.J. Taylor, Cade Green, Emmet Perry, Quintez Cephus, Aron Cruickshank, and Cam Phillips.

Who’s New: Freshmen Haakon Anderson, Devin Chandler, Chimere Dike and Isaac Smith.

It was like signing a highly-coveted free agent at the 11th hour.

The Badgers coaching staff felt good about their prospects at the receiver position entering last season, but the offense got a huge boost with the return of Quintez Cephus. Acquitted of two criminal sexual assault allegations on Aug. 2 by a Dane County jury, Cephus was reinstated to UW-Madison on Aug.19 and declared eligible for competition on Aug. 23. Despite missing the last month of the 2017 season (broken leg) and being suspended all the 2018 season, Cephus in the Aug.30 season opener and had three catches for 39 yards. It turns out he was just warming up.

Cephus had six catches for 130 yards and two scores a week later and continued to get better. Finishing with 59 catches for 901 yards (the most by a UW receiver since Alex Erickson in 2015) and seven touchdowns, Cephus was a big focal point in the final four games, collecting 24 catches for 374 yards and three touchdowns.

A.J. Taylor made 23 grabs for 267 yards — including a career-long 55-yard TD reception at Nebraska on Nov. 16 — before being lost for the season to a leg injury at Minnesota. Pryor had 278 receiving yards on 23 catches, to go along with a pair of rushing touchdowns, while Davis has 30 receptions for 250 yards and also had a rushing score to his name.

Including limited production from Jack Dunn and Adam Krumholz, the Badgers’ receivers were responsible for 58.9 percent of the catches (145 of 246) and 63.7 percent of the yards (1,786 of 2,802).