MADISON, Wis. – Considering all the roadblocks that faced a first-year player in 2020, Nick Herbig had an exceptional freshman campaign from an outside the program perspective. He lost out on spring practices due to the COVID, as well as the normal offseason progression leading up to a season, but Herbig still found a way to carve out a starting role and tie for the team lead in tackles for loss.

But to view his first college season as a success, at least in his eyes, is the wrong approach.

“I was definitely not happy at all with the impact I made on the team last year,” Herbig said Friday. “I feel like I could have been so much more of an impact in many ways. That’s a big part of me, and I need to be better at that and work harder. Last year, what I was doing, it was not enough.”

The assessment of wishing more would have been accomplished is not limited to Wisconsin’s star sophomore outside linebacker.

For as good as the Badgers were last season as a collective unit, Wisconsin was unable to successfully attack opposing backfields with any great regularity. The Badgers had just 36 tackles for loss in 2020, averaging out to 5.1 per game, which ranked 93rd nationally. A season after two linebackers averaged at least .8 sacks per game and four backers averaged .5 tackle for loss per contest, those respective numbers dropped to zero and three.

Part of that is due to the Badgers facing some quick-pass offenses, preventing the linebackers from reaching and impacting the passer. That’s where stats can be deceiving, and a reason why Wisconsin still finished the season fifth nationally in total defense and ninth in scoring, but players recognize that a decent pass rush this fall could exponentially help.

“Pass rush is huge at our position,” sophomore Aaron Witt said. “We’re playmaking. University of Wisconsin outside linebackers, we got to have production that comes from getting sacks, making plays, getting strip-sacks. That’s really been a huge focus throughout the offseason. That’s how you get to the next level, as well, and we all want to do that. It’s been huge to work on that part of our game.”

Having both starting outside linebackers returning is a good first step, the first time the program have enjoyed that luxury since 2015. Noah Burks will be entering his third year as a starter while Herbig will finally have a full offseason at his disposal.

Those two, along with position coach Bobby April, have been leading the charge to get more penetration into the backfield. Throughout the winter and the first two weeks of spring practices, the group has been focused on better footwork, improved vision when on a blitz, playing with “violent hands” and an increased burst off the line to break past the edge.

“(April) emphasized more than anything, the most important part of a good pass rush is your get off (at the snap),” Burks said. “We do a ton of drills, a ton of work this offseason just emphasizing our get off. A lot of little changes that we have implemented, where guys are going goofy foot with their opposite foot up. We even have the ability sometimes to get a hand in the dirt for some guys.”

Burks has yet to participate in Wisconsin’s first five spring practices due to going through the COVID protocol, which has allowed some younger linebackers to gain valuable reps. According to April, the three who have stood out have been C.J. Goetz, Spencer Lytle, and Witt.

Goetz had bounced around several positions before his body made him a natural fit at the position in 2020, and he finished as UW’s best-graded tackler last season, per Pro Football Focus. Witt got his feet wet playing in three games and delivering a strip-sack in the bowl game.

“Aaron has a sense of how he goes through practice and just every day,” Goetz said. “Physicality is one of his strong points. That’s something that I really admire out of him as something he brings to practice. He always brings energy, brings juice and has that physicality to him.”

Lytle is as intriguing as the others. A former four-star recruit who has been on campus since January 2019, Lytle flashed immediately before a constant run of injuries put him behind. But after playing 13 snaps during the regular season, Lytle was on the field for 16 in the bowl game.

With Izayah Green-May continuing to miss time with injuries, Lytle has seen his reps increase.

“This is the first time he knows the defense, first time he’s been healthy for an entire offseason to build into what he’s become,” April said. “He’s put on great weight. He’s put on great numbers in the weight room. His speed has increased. All his maxes are up, which is a sign that guy is working.”

The work is contagious, according to Herbig, who sees a team that is able to bond and push each other on and off the field after COVID eliminated that a year ago. It gives him hope that this season yields better results.

“I need to go harder,” he said. “I definitely had that feeling at the end of the season that I didn’t leave it all out there and I let my team down.”

“A big step for me is to be more of a spark plug to the team, being a better all-around player. Being smart, a lot more physical, quicker and really elevating my pass rush game.”

“Last year, the pass rush for our defense as a whole wasn’t really what Wisconsin is about. At Wisconsin, you’re expected to have double-digit sacks each year. I feel like that’s a big part of the game I need to focus on to bring a big edge to our team.”