2019 Wisconsin fall camp preview: Two-deep solid for safeties

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

The defensive backfield will miss the presence of captain D'Cota Dixon as he embarks on his journey to make the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' roster. But both Eric Burrell and Scott Nelson return with starting safety experience. Behind them, two players who turned in solid springs performances - Reggie Pearson and Collin Wilder - will challenge for playing time.

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The bad news: Dixon exhausted his eligibility, and reserve safety Evan Bondoc did as well.

The good news: Three safeties return with starting experience from last season and during the spring, it appeared the position group played well.

“I think the safeties have done a great job of competing and making plays this spring,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said on April 16. “We’ve taken a big jump forward.”

The two-deep feels set at safety entering fall camp. Burrell (6-foot, 191 pounds) and Nelson (6-foot-2, 197 pounds) appeared to take the presumed first-team reps at the position group, but Pearson and Wilder both flashed well during the sessions open to the media.

“We’re just all competing,” Burrell said about the safeties on April 13. “It doesn’t even matter if you’re first string, second string. I think everybody's just going out there, having fun. I’m excited what we can bring to the table. A lot of people are going to be doubting us, but I’m excited, and I’m just ready to work.”

Two weeks later, Wilder also reiterated that competitive feeling.

“I think we have a lot of depth,” Wilder said on April 26 after Wisconsin's final spring practice. “I think we can rely on all four of us. Whoever’s out on that field, I think we can rely that we will make plays. It’s a competitive group, and it helps us get better each and every day.”

It will be worth watching how Burrell and Nelson take that next step this season in terms of leadership without Dixon, but also with on-the-field performances. The duo combined for 83 tackles last season but the secondary itself only eight interceptions last season.

On top of that, locking down tackling will likely be another objective, which had been an issue at times last season.

Pearson put together one of the best performances by a player this spring with his combination of pass breakups, interceptions and hitting. Before Pearson's injury in his first career start -- and first career game ever -- at Michigan, the redshirt freshman may have made the most impactful collegiate debut. The 5-foot-10, 198-pound Pearson will challenge for reps in camp.

Behind them, Wilder (5-foot-10, 193 pounds) appeared solid in his work during the spring. Receiving a scholarship from Wisconsin in February, the now former walk-on asserted himself into the two-deep for the spring practices. An objective for the Houston transfer involved gaining trust from not just Leonhard and his teammates.

“I wanted to earn trust and I wanted to show them that I’m willing to lay my body on the line no matter what, and I think I showed that,” Wilder said. “I think I earned a lot of trust. I never had a perfect day, though, and that was what I was trying to shoot for and I never did. Especially today, I didn’t have a perfect day.

"The biggest thing coming out of this [is] I really hope that these guys can trust me if my number is called or whenever my number is called.”

The safety group very well could be a strength of the defense come the season, but it will be worth watching how depth can be built with this set of players. In the spring, walk-ons John Torchio (6-foot-1, 202 pounds) and Tyler Mais (6-foot-1, 194 pounds) worked as mostly third-team reserves, and it should be interesting to see how true freshman Titus Toler (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) works in after not enrolling early at UW.