It appears the Wisconsin Badgers will receive some on for its offense, at least once a couple hurdles are completed.

UW confirmed on Friday that tight end Zander Neuville will return to the football program for the 2019 season as the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility.

However, there are some hoops for the former walk-on and converted defensive lineman to jump through before returning to the team in an on-the-field capacity.

First, a UW official confirmed the NCAA has cleared Neuville for practice but not competition - for now. The latter distinction is in the process of being worked through to be eligible to play in games. He was also admitted to graduate school.

Further, the Waupaca, Wis., native needs to work back into condition to play at the college football level. Early in the 2018 season, Neuville suffered a left leg injury that limited him to just three games in his fifth year at UW.

"We've really had a long conversation with 'Z' about that, and there are still some things for him to go through," head coach Paul Chryst said on Friday after Wisconsin's eighth fall camp practice. "There's some waivers and just physically where he's at. I don't know that he'll do anything in camp, but the players were excited, too, to have him back, so he's on the roster."

Chryst also discussed the timeline and the caution taken with Neuville's situation.

"What the real timeline is that he wasn't with us all summer, so he's got to have a great baseline," Chryst said. "With him, I'd rather err, whatever that is, is it another day, another week to make sure he's truly squared away. Knowing him and really our strength coaches know him, we can really, I think, have a great plan for him that way.

"Part of that can include some football-specific as he gets going, but camp, I don't know that he'll get anything. So you're looking at kind of beginning of the season. Then I think we got to really be smart on making sure he's ready to go."

The presence of Neuville in the tight end room could be extremely valuable to Wisconsin. Depth could be an issue in Mickey Turner's position group if injuries hit redshirt sophomore Jake Ferguson or redshirt junior Luke Benzschawel.

UW announced redshirt junior Gabe Lloyd, who played significant reps this spring with the first-team offense due to injuries to Ferguson and Benzschawel, was lost for the 2019 season after surgery for a right leg injury. Seth Currens, who played inside linebacker in the spring but worked with the tight ends early on in fall camp, has been out of practice with a right leg injury.

Throughout his Badgers' career, Neuville has played in 42 games with 14 starts. Primarily known as a key run blocker, he also caught 10 passes for 84 yards with two touchdowns in his first five years in Madison.

"You are excited for him, and that's what it is," Chryst said. "Not everyone has that opportunity to do what he's doing right now, but his senior season didn't end the way, didn't even start the way that he pictured it. So to have kind of a second chance at that -- and we've got to be smart and learn from the things we can learn from -- I hope everything continues to kind of go along as we think and hope it may.

"It would be really neat. Every guy, you want to have that ability for your last year to be your best year."