2019 Wisconsin fall camp preview: Competition shaping up for cornerbacks

In less than a month, Wisconsin will open fall camp in preparation for the 2019 season opener against South Florida.

Last season, six different cornerbacks started at least one game, and players with previously limited to no experienced received playing time with the absences of Nick Nelson (NFL), Derrick Tindal (graduation) and Dontye Carriers-Williams (transfer).

“Last year, and I’ve hit it with the group, there was a lot of guys that just wanted to play,” Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said on April 16. “They hadn’t been on the field. They knew there were opportunities for snaps and big roles, and with experience, they realized there was a big difference between playing and playing well."

Now the cornerbacks hope to take a step forward, and they showed more ability in the spring that could turn this position into a strength of the defense.

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During that media availability in mid-April, Leonhard detailed the corners' higher focus, understanding and sense of urgency being "higher." He also believed "it is a great competition right now."

This might be the hardest position group to project heading into fall camp, as cornerbacks appeared to be mixed and matched during spring ball.

"We’re rolling a lot of guys in and trying to put them in the slot, playing nickel," Leonhard said. "Put them to the boundary, put them to the field. Come the fall, we’ll get those roles a little bit tighter, but in the spring, we’re trying to see who can learn what and who can take the experience from last year and take that next step.”

One tidbit Leonhard mentioned to reporters about the corners: the position group is better in many aspects compared to last year. But he also admitted the corners showed some inconsistency.

“We’ve made more plays. I think there’s a lot of things, you kind of got to step back sometimes,” Leonhard said. “We’re so much better in a lot of areas, it just makes some of the other things frustrating that it has been inconsistent. But if you look from a year ago to now, we're significantly better in most areas.”

During fall camp, those who step up to be more consistent could find a path to more playing time when the season begins.

Despite all the tandems, the duo of redshirt sophomore Faion Hicks (5-foot-10, 187 pounds) and redshirt junior Caesar Williams (6-foot, 187 pounds) feels like the right place to start. Both began the 2018 season as starters. On top of that, both appeared to work as first-team corners to end spring ball on April 26.

Behind them, redshirt sophomore Deron Harrell (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) and sophomore Rachad Wildgoose (5-11, 193 pounds) also each recorded a combined 12 starts last season and found some time as presumed "first-team" corners at times in April. For Wildgoose, however, that appeared to be for a very limited time during the spring. The South Florida product broke through the two-deep in 2018 and led the team in pass breakups. It will be interesting to watch how both challenge for reps starting in August.

Regarding the third corner spot in nickel packages, especially in the slot role, a few contenders could vie for the role. It appeared Hicks slid in to the slot at times during the spring, but so did redshirt freshman Donte Burton (5-foot-10, 178 pounds) -- with the latter starting at Purdue last season despite retaining the redshirt year with only four games played.

Maybe another name to watch is another redshirt freshman in Alexander Smith (5-foot-11, 181 pounds), who also worked in the slot during the spring.

Do not count out Madison Cone for a potential role in this group.The 5-foot-9, 180-pound junior led the cornerbacks in interceptions last season with two, but he was out for most of the spring practices open to the media due to injury.