Wisconsin Defensive Line Full of Unproven Confidence

MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin is five months away from its 2021 season opener and needs to rebuild a defensive line that loses two starters, has no proven depth in the two-deep and a position coach going through his first practices as a college assistant coach.

Is there reason to be concerned? Absolutely not.

“The guys are in the building for a reason,” first-year defensive line coach Ross Kolodziej said. “We’re confident in their talent, their abilities and their work ethic to get where they need to be ultimately.”

The Badgers are encouraged by the fact that they have two healthy established starters entering the fall. Matt Henningsen is the veteran of the unit with 29 career games and has fully recovered from tearing his bicep against Michigan. UW also has a budding star in junior nose tackle Keeanu Benton, who has yet to miss a game in two seasons, and reserve nose tackle Bryson Williams (26 games).

After that, the Badgers lack practice experience in their depth chart, let alone game experience from a host of young prospects.

UW has experienced life without Loudermilk and Rand before, and the results weren’t pretty. The Badgers were left in scramble mode over Summer 2018 when the duo both suffered leg injuries, Rand an Achilles injury that ended his season and Loudermilk losing four games due to a leg injury that lingered throughout the year.

The Badgers relied on Henningsen, David Pfaff, and a mixture of others at the end position to fill the void. UW finished 29th in the country in total defense (the only season of the four defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard hasn’t had a top five defense) but 53rd nationally in rush defense (155.1 ypg), a huge drop a season after giving up just 98.4 rushing yards per game.

As tough as those injuries were for the line to deal with, they opened an alley for Henningsen. He became the first Wisconsin walk-on since at least 1990 to start a season opener as a freshman and was placed on scholarship later that season.

“I have great examples of leaders before me, starting my freshman year with Conor Sheehy, Alec James, and Chikwe (Obasih),” Henningsen said. “After that we had Olive (Sagapolu), then after that we had Isaiahh and Garrett. Tough footsteps to follow. Some really good players.”

Even after Rand and Loudermilk returned the following season, Henningsen still made five starts and recorded 24 tackles, five tackles for loss, four sacks and scored two touchdowns on fumble recoveries.

He will now be the anchor of the group after making a full recovery, cleared for workouts two months post-surgery and was setting personal records on his lifts a month after that.

“He’s a genius academically and he’s a freakshow athletically,” Kolodziej said. “He’s right at if not exceeding where we hoped he'd be at this time … He’s encyclopedic and photographic with his memory and recall, so a great resource.”

While the Badgers could get creative with their defensive line, since Leonhard primarily lined up in a nickel defense with only two down linemen throughout last season, junior Isaiah Mullens is in line to get a larger role. Mullens played only 111 snaps last season but acknowledged that he must show the staff that he’s ready to accept more responsibilities.

“(Coach Kolodziej) wants us to go eat,” Mullens said. “That’s what his main takeaway is with the d-line. He wants us to be the best defensive line in the country.”

It’s early in the process, with having completed three of its 15 practices, but the play of the young ends has been encouraging to Kolodziej and the veterans.

Rodas Johnson has had an “unbelievable” first three practices but Kolodziej acknowledges that the 6-foot-2 sophomore must now work to maintain and improve at the college level. Fellow sophomore Gio Paez has also flashed during drills while true freshman Mike Jarvis has done some positive things jumping right into the mix.

With a veteran group of linebackers and defensive backs ready to make plays behind them, maybe optimism is the proper word to use for a group of mostly unknown commodities.

“We lost some important pieces for sure,” Williams said. “I think we also have some young talent that’s ready to go that’s hungry, that’s proven already that they’re hungry so far in spring ball. I think everybody from last year has a lot of room to grow.

“I think Coach K has already come in and done such a good job, really gotten all of us excited to be here every day. I know I feel refreshed that he’s here. I feel great that he’s here. It’s just a different feeling. We’re all very excited about it, so I feel like everybody else should be, too.”