The Camp: Wisconsin returns to Camp Randall, 1-2 punch of Chez and Tawee, Badgers unranked

yes welcome into the camp we are back and uh the Badgers are back in Madison they were back on the field this morning inside Camp rattle Stadium for the first time in Fall Camp having completed their two weeks down in Platville Jesse I know L what Luke fickle said the other night that things may change when they get back to campus but Tyler van djk still the first team quarterback and still the guy taking all of those reps just like he was on Sunday night so you're not saying you're just saying I'm not saying I'm just saying um not that like again this is not a huge surprise it's just and we'll get we get actually get to talk to the quarterbacks on Wednesday so and Phil Longo so we'll have a little bit that is correct right yes okay uh so we will have a chance to I don't know if we'll get what we'll get out of those guys but you know we'll get to hear from them on Wednesday and have a little bit more to talk about when it comes to those guys but as before you uh before we join here you you kind of mentioned it was a bit of a eh practice only from the sense of if you're looking for new details or things we haven't seen before that was lacking they still did a lot of scrimmage action some live tackling action and those are part of what they're trying to ramp up obviously as they get ready for year two but it's most of the same people in the same places and certainly Tyler van djk still using all of his snaps with the first team offense is notable because like we talked about previously it has felt as though it was trending in that direction before and at a certain point you have to make a decision and while Luke said after practicing Platville Sunday night that there's still chances for them to switch things up the closer you get to the season opener the more you're really trying to lock in on who's going to be in what role yep and uh again we'll get into to all of it we'll talk a little bit about Wisconsin being unranked for the first time since 2016 and can they potentially do what they did in 16 which was a heck of a gauntlet of a schedule that they faced that turned out to maybe not be as good but still was was really really good we'll talk about that uh we also had a chance to talk with the safeties we'll hear uh a little bit of what they had to say today and again talk what we saw at practice uh but before we do that uh I wanted to again remind everybody that HomeField is the official apparel sponsor of the camp they have the best vintage gear that you can possibly get when it comes to College athletics and they are back at big way with their can't miss kickoff campaign that's running throughout the month of August and they have these Platinum football boxes that they just released last Friday they are uh ridiculous they do have Wiscon a Wisconsin box that has three new shirts in them and uh I again particularly like the one that highlights the 1993 team one of the more beloved teams in school history so make sure to check that out you can find it up on home field.com and if you use the code Bucky 24 you can get 15% off your first purchase all right to back to practice here I I again I thought that there were a couple of people that that stood out I thought Tyler van dijke actually did throw the ball pretty well uh some guys maybe weren't making all the catches they needed to but I thought he actually threw the ball pretty well and the passing game had had its moments uh maybe not down the field necessarily but it was also really good to see Tui Walker back because he had missed a few days and when he's in there and Chaz maloi actually got some some work too I that that one two combination looked really good today so I don't know which way you want to go with this but um I I know we've talked a ton about the passing game haven't talked a ton about chz and uh to we of late yeah I know I got some questions for my previous mailbag uh at the athletic about chz and uh we just had not seen him a lot since the first few days of week one but he was back Sunday night for that scrimmage obviously ramping Up full go now and that's an encouraging sign I think the Maloy Walker combination has a chance to be Dynamic even when you get into some of these tough Big 10 games and Walker looks like one of the steals frankly of the transfer portal Hall that they've had largely because you didn't necessarily know what his role was going to be there was a run today uh where I think it was the ball was on the defense's 38 yard line and he hit a hole and nobody was around him and it would have been a touchdown run um I think they spotted the ball in the next play to 20 or something like that make sense that's why it's always tough but I could see how excited and fired up Deon Spalding was when Walker got to the sideline he has just been that dude since the spring and we talked about this on Sunday the the number of players that they have to evaluate that could be legitimate contributors uh is substantial I mean legitimately six guys which we've mentioned that Jackson acre Kade yakam melli and of course Darion Dupri and Dylan Jones who continue to get some reps with the twos so it's a a very good group and I you know obviously a lot of the focus since Longo got here has been on the passing game and what can be different but he is consistently relying on the Run game and that is as important as anything to the success of this offense to me that's the biggest question they were they were essentially 50-50 last year uh run and pass I I feel like and Luke fickles talked about this wanting to have that mindset and still be that team and I know Phil bristles at the idea that he's a pass guy you know he's he's going to take what the def gives you but I think they're going to have to Le I I think they should at least early on lean on that running game um I I again I feel better about the passing game that I did last year but if uh teams are GNA you know for lack of a better term just not take that away you have to take advantage of it and I for you a question for you what do you think teams will concentrate on more this year Badger running game or their passing game well I mean I think what they showed last year and what they had this year means that it's got to be pretty close to 50/50 because that's what they're going to throw out there like I think I look at the past game and I think a lot of what we'll see my what I would anticipate are short intermediate type throws um and the short throws are essentially runs they're just getting the ball to I mean you might even that's how you get the ball to your tail back to start out with obviously maloi what he's put on film means that you've got to focus on him um but if defenses stop the run you're putting Wisconsin in a very difficult position which is what we could have said about the previous Wisconsin uh the iteration of Wisconsin football so I mean I I if if I have to answer the question and obviously not hedge Zack which I would never do I would say it's stop the run first and make this team show you that they can win a game through the air because even though there were more passes last year than what we're accustomed to seeing I don't know that you can point to many games where you said they won that game because they went to the air you know they they beat Illinois in a comeback because Bradon lock made some great throws Tanner mory's best game was against LSU where the offense did very well and yet they still lost the game so that would kind of be my thought process as defense coming in yeah again I I I think it's a tough question because they are 50/50 but I I agree and I think that was this was the case last year prove you can beat us with your passing game prove it we're gonna we're going to stop the run we're gonna this is what we're going to do I I will also say I think there's a lot of defenses that are in Wisconsin's this the same way stop the run then get after him on on third down and that's the key and and the key to success but if like you're keying on it if like your goal for a team is you know we're gonna make sure that Tyler van djk or whoever the quarterback is has to beat us I think that is probably the at least until they proves that they can until you prove that you can then we're gonna we're going to make you test it so uh but I that's the thing I think the running game has it could be should be better than it was last year in large part because you you have more options in the back field but I think also the offensive line is one you're deeper into into this but with uh with a healthy chz Malo and a healthy bril and Allen I think the I thought the running game could have been pretty darn good last year unfortunately for them they just were never truly truly healthy throughout the entire season he lose Chaz in game four brin's dinged up for much of it this year if the if the top two go down they have some more some options there to help them through it but do you feel do you feel the same way about the running game as I do do you think that it has it it'll be better than it was last year yes um I kind of feel like though if the injuries happen all bets are off because then you're banking on the guys that you ended up banking on last season and freshman who while have had moments in practice are completely unproven in a game but we felt this last year especially at the time when maloi got hurt which was so unfortunate for him that he was the best fit among all the running backs for what they wanted out of that position I think Walker certainly has that good combination of some of the power that you saw from brilland but obviously uh good speed and there's just an opportunity for them to be more Dynamic and there's a greater Comfort level too you're talking about the offensive line everybody feels more confident that was here last year and is back in what they can accomplish because there's less thinking going on and more reacting y uh on the other side of the ball I and I know we're going to talk about the safeties but I thought it continues to to show up ball Hawking and not just ball Hawking like when the ball like when you think about that you think interceptions and pass breakups and there were pass break breakups today but I think theyve done as good a job as I've ever seen from a secondary at least in Fall Camp of going and attacking the ball when a guy's running with it uh we saw it the other night with Will Pauling getting the ball knocked out of his hand we saw in the first practice where guys you know there was just a ton of turnovers but today Bryson uh Bryson Green Austin Brown knocked it free from him uh as he was going down the field again we have to temper the excitement about that because the offense is also not holding on to the ball but the way that the defense has attacked it I think is certainly was certainly something they wanted to do and they' they have definitely accomplished that to this point in Fall Camp there's been a ton of those those situations where guys are getting their hands on on balls and knocking them free kind of like the the old Peanut Tillman punch and Ball's been on the ground a bunch if I'm not mistaken wasn't Austin Brown the one who knocked the ball out of Pauling XS it might have been yeah um look they've got a really quality secondary um so we can save the safety conversation for a little bit since we had a chance to talk to them the corners and the safeties I agree with you I've seen a lot of pass breakups too that that has definitely stood out and it's not just the usual suspects ner for Kine Ricardo hman even guys with the twos are really getting after it Jonas duona um zegier Lucas had a a great play today that that stood out where and I'm still getting used to it because kind of got thrown in there he's number six and I'm looking at my roster going who is this um just because he hasn't been the guy that's been in the two deep since day one of preseason but it's noticeable when he's out there um there was a play where I think it was like the front right corner of the end zone and he made a play on it and just showed no fear demonstrated that physicality and that size and when you've got that coming from a freshman and he's getting two reps it means that the guys in front of him are making those plays as well so they definitely look much deeper and more consistent but if you find out in the games whether you can do that at a level that's going to mean you can win those games and they can be difference makers yeah he also had an interception maybe the official said it was an interception zavier Lucas that is I it was very close to being out of bounds but um either way he had he had an interception as well he's gonna play he's gotta play at some point and I know you think about what Ricardo hman gave you last year and ner forine and then RJ Delany but after that as we've talked about before there's not a ton of experience there so other guys can so it's not like he's way behind Jones clona or jce Arnold and that has certainly played out here these last two practices three practices where he's been getting reps with the with the twos and it feels like he's out there even more than those other two guys it feels like it feels like they are rotating and he's getting one side to himself every time I think he's gonna get snaps this season it's it's notable that again all of a sudden he emerges with the twos during a scrimmage on Sunday and getting a lot of reps and then continues to get more of those and we've seen a lot of two reps certainly from Jason Arnold Jonas D clono Amari snow has gotten in there as well but especially for a true freshman who is beginning to ascend uh we're only two weeks into fall Camp so how much better can he be say two weeks from now when you're getting ready for the first game I certainly think that he'll be there and that is why Luke fickle mentioned a half dozen freshman Xavier Lucas was in the conversation that we got to figure out a way to get him on the field yeah and Amari Snowden did have another interception today as well in U in Skelly so he's found his uh hands on the ball quite a bit these first couple of weeks of camp um do you want to talk about the safeties let's let's talk about the safeties here a little bit obviously Hunter Waller is the guy they've had a bunch of other guys along with him back there Preston zachman Austin Brown we'll see where you know kamo latu is when he is cleared he's been in a no contact Yellow no contact Jersey I wonder if some of that is to protect him from himself at times just because he's just so physical and you know when he doesn't have that yellow no contact Jersey on he's just flying around and uh getting his hands punching balls loose and I think that may have been one of those issues for him um and why he's he's not practicing right now is um so he's got that yellow new contact ear on but Alex Grinch said that they expect him back and he'll work his way through whatever he's working his way through but the other guys if you were to say right now Hunter wer is your guy one guy who is your other guy it'd be Austin Brown assuming that Max loy's in the slot and we have seen that the majority of the time but there are instances where they do put Brown in the slot which is what we expected coming into the preseason and in that situation you can go any number of guys if latu is healthy he's there Preston zachman Braden Moore I think has made significant strides here so they've got a lot of options but to me it's what we've seen most of the time where it is brown and wer and that is a pretty darn good combination back there so you get a chance to talk with Hunter wer a little bit today one-on-one I saw that uh we were it was it was we were waiting for uh him to stop talking seconds you waited 15 seconds I made sure that it was the last question so everyone didn't have to wait so what were some of the the things that you're interested in uh that you were interested in asking him about because I think he he usually gives some really good answers to the questions especially when it's after a Northwestern game and he is upset with the locker room but obviously that was not the case this time I was asking him more big picture questions about the team because as a leader and a representative of the program like at Big 10 media days he can kind of speak to that so it wasn't specific to the things that he's improved which we talked to him a lot about back in the spring but I mean he's a guy who came in who grew up from in this state and watched all the success this program had and as soon as he got here even slightly before the program went uh this way so how do you get back to that level and do you feel like this is a year that is really important to trying to do that obviously he's going to say that it is but for all these veterans they came at a time when there were a lot of high hopes for where this program could go and it has not gone the way that anybody thought so um Hunter has a lot of motivation just like a lot of other guys do to try and turn that around and and put this program on a a better path which is certainly what Luke fickle wants to do as well in year two for him do you think they have the guys to do that do you think they do have the guys to turn and and start the upward trajectory and what does that look like it's such a hard question to answer I yes I think we've said before they are more talented than they were a year ago and you asked on the previous show if you go down most position groups I think based on what we've seen we feel like you could say there is more talent in those rooms it's going to take doing something that we just have not seen Wisconsin teams do in recent years which is winning those games that people think you're not going to win frankly Wisconsin was so good for so long because the Badgers won the winnable games and the tossup games and maybe they could squeak out another one of those games that you didn't think they would win and all of a sudden you have a 10- win season and you are in the Big 10 championship game and then it got to a point where they started sliding and were losing te to teams that they were not supposed to lose to and it's hard to get that back but I think obviously with the moves they made in the portal The Freshman they' brought in the guys that have bought in that are coming back in year two it feels possible it's just that you got to go out and prove it and if you win at home against Alabama in week three it completely changes the narrative around the program it changes the trajectory of what year two can be and you go from being a team that is what people expect might be seven and five and just lose the games that people think you're going to lose to can you be a legitimate college football playoff Contender I think that is how much one week uh can change what people think about this program whether that's fair or not is that a barometer as to where the program is do you think that that game on the 14th September 14th so like a month away uh it is certainly a barometer it's it's not the barometer like if they lose that game then I think you just feel like oh this is what was expected but if you play reasonably well and build enough confidence that you come off the bye and beat USC on the road and have a pretty good season um you know this can be a a good place for this program to take a leap uh but yeah I mean you beat a top five team in especially Alabama it just it changes so much and that's I think part of what the beauty of college football is to me for as much as everything has changed in the landscape and there are a lot of things that are different and that people may not like every week is an indictment on where you are as a program and where you stand and some of those weeks are bigger than others and week three is one of those that if you win that game it means so much even if it doesn't count toward Big 10 Championship it does count toward what I think has become the the greater goal of trying to get into the college football playoff because now you're at a point where you don't even have to win a big 10 Championship or be within Striking Distance in the last week or two and yet you can still be a college football playoff Contender I think that game is going to be maybe not a barometer but it's a measuring as to where the program is if they put up a fight and take that game into the fourth quarter then I think you're probably thinking it's moving in the right direction if it if it you know if it's like the last time they played them where they put up a fight maybe in the first half and then Alabama kind of took over in the second when they was down in uh down in Dallas then maybe it's maybe your expectations or your feelings about where things are going maybe on the on the other side of it but it's it's definitely a measuring stick as to where things are in year two for me yeah I I think back to the Ohio State game from last year where at the time it felt like oh maybe this program is making some strides it's a tie game in the third quarter it's a one touchdown game going into the fourth they lose it by two touchdowns and I mean was it they obviously had a terrible stretch during the season and so um it can go both ways like you can play com reasonably competitive and lose and still not meet the standard in subsequent subsequent weeks uh but it can also be a moment that galvanizes the program and and does change things so um we'll have to see it's coming up quick it is it's uh about a month away from Alabama coming to Camp Randle we're only about two weeks out I say two and a half weeks out from the start of the Season against Western Michigan uh Wisconson will go into this season unranked for the first time since 2016 uh and just the second time I think since 2009 uh either way it is uh it's unfamiliar territory but it's also I think probably expected after what has uh taken place these last three or four years at at some point at some point your reputation as being a perennial Contender goes away and uh that is certainly it's it's gone away for Wisconsin they're not and a lot of it you know some of it has to do with the Big 10 expanding and all that but I think even if was still the same Big 10 they wouldn't be in it they would not be in the poll and they wouldn't be considered any any kind of a threat to to win uh the Big 10 maybe to win the West like Iowa probably would have been the overwhelming favorite to win the west and all that good stuff but Wisconsin on rank for for the first time since 2016 if you go back to 2016 the reason I think a lot of people were worried going into that season was because of the schedule I mean they were SK they opened up against a top five LSU team at Lambo and then later on they had games against top 10 teams in three straight weeks Michigan State Michigan and Ohio State and two of those were on the road and you're like oh my goodness and then they went were supposed to go to and they went to Iowa the week after or maybe it was they had a buy uh after that Ohio State game and it was just H how do you how do you deal with that how do you overcome that well you beat LSU then you go to Michigan State and you beat them and again they turned out to be horrible and then you put up a huge fight the next two weeks and you go two and two in those games and all of a sudden you're and for some and all of a sudden you're still not not just ranked but you're in like the top 15 even after those losses uh because of how well you played it this feels like a similar situation just in terms of not being ranked and having a schedule that boasts currently currently boasts three top 10 teams and five top 25 teams well preseason rankings obviously a lot uh are dependent a lot on perception of a program like you're talking about what do we know about this team going into the season well historically they've been this and historically if you want to go to recent history they have not been very good they're coming off back toback seven and six seasons the best year they've had in the last five years is the nine and four year in 2021 where they blew their chance to go to the Big 10 championship game against Minnesota right um in the regular season finale so and then you go to Who Do they have and what is possible and nobody knows the answer to that uh in terms of what is possible but I think that they're rightfully unranked at this point and I can also tell you and talk to the players today that they don't care about that because at least that's what they're going to tell you to your face it doesn't matter they have to focus on what they have in that room and go out and win the games and whether they're ranked or not is not going to change how difficult the challenge is but because they do have a lot of opportunities that's going to allow them to show what they can do just like in 2016 and it's it's funny because you go back to that year and they started one and two just because of the way the schedule uh started if I'm if I'm not big 10 right so they beat Michigan and obviously had those back-to-back losses uh and there were a lot of those years I feel like where the Badgers had to kind of climb their way uh up I mean 2014 uh I think of too they're just kind of like a forgotten team and the pressure is completely off and you could just go about your business and obviously they were much better than the record indicated and and maybe this year will be something similar if if you do have some early season struggles there are going to be a lot of opportunities down the stretch to show how much better you've gotten if you lose against Alabama if you lose against USC you're going to be playing Penn State and Oregon at home in potential night games where where you can probably shock the nation if you haven't played well up to that point so there's a lot of opportunities for growth but I think that's also scary because that means there's a lot of opportunities for potential failure where if you are not at the level that you need to be you're going to get exposed yeah again they've you go back some of the seasons where they have been unranked or lower or ranked lower have been some of their better years like where where there's not a whole lot of expect expected out of them and uh I I look at some of the other teams in that top 25 and Wisconsin garnered I think it was what was it 15 or 16 votes uh or points they were in the obviously receiving votes category Nebraska was ahead of them and I I don't I don't get that they have not been to a bowl game since 2016 and I get like the that there's some excitement around the program obviously with with riola coming in and looking like a fat Patrick Mahomes and like all that like I I understand that excitement kid still hasn't played a game and they just like they did under um the previous head coach couldn't win close games last year so that one I mean they only had like one more vote than Wisconsin so it's not like it's a huge thing but some teams get respect and I don't understand it and Nebraska is one of those teams I I don't understand it but it's it's irrelevant for Wisconsin the schedule you know we've talked about Western Michigan we haven't really talked about them but we know that the they're the first game the second game is is an interesting one because South Dakota they're ranked fifth in the FCS I don't think that is going to be necessarily maybe the the walkover that that some May project I South Dakota and some of the other FCF schools have given FBS schools some some trouble I'm normally thinking of Iowa here but maybe that's just their offense being horrible allowed the other team to stay in it but that I I I don't know especially with what's coming the following week you just you just hope that if you're Wisconsin and if you're the coaching staff of Wisconsin that you're just not overlooking that one but overall the schedule I think this is as difficult as schedule as Wisconsin's ever had and it doesn't get any easier next year either I mean the the these first two years of the Big 10 the new Big 10 especially with Alabama as the non-conference opponent makes extremely extremely difficult but as you said if they lose the Alabama game it doesn't affect them big 10 wise but a win there like a loss is what it's expected a win changes things yeah I think if you want to go back and make the parallel of 2016 the win against LSU at Lambo changed things because they all of a sudden became a ranked team and you realize they were better than what people thought and they could r that Ro momentum a little bit obviously LSU turned out to be not of top five caliber that year but wasn't a bad team just they they finished inside the top they finished they finished in the top 15 of the country they just had to get rid of Les Miles they just needed they just needed a new coach and they they ended up finishing inside the top 15 won their bowl game and I think they went nine and four or something like that with their with two of the losses being to Alabama and to Florida on the well just by like single digits so they were not they were not a bad team that year they were not Michigan State bad that year yeah I think obviously you could say this about every year but there is a lot writing on what happens this year especially for Luke fickle just because of the way year one went and and while I know people are supportive and feel good about the recruiting efforts they've made you got to go win the games on the field and so if you can show even incremental progress this year against a really tough schedule then I think people feel better about what the future can look like for this program what does incremental growth look like for you I feel like we've kind of touched on this subject a few different times it's the way you compete in games for starters um I it's hard to put a a definitive win number on what progress looks like I mean I think when we went over our picks I had Wisconsin at seven and five and you had eight and four and if they go eight and four that feels at least like incremental progress now it depends who you win and lose to but you can't go out and play a team like Northwestern and be down three touchdowns at halftime and be completely embarrassed um even if you have injuries that's just that's not an excuse every team has to deal with that losing to Indiana um a team that had not been good for several years uh you got to be able to not only win those kinds of games but be competitive and potentially win one of these games that people are talking about badgers can't win so I think there's a lot to it uh and statistically you can look at all that stuff too where do the they improve in certain areas so that you feel like building do you remember that not record but the long streak where the only team they were in Underdog to was Ohio state like from the from the Miami uh pinstrip bowl game until I think the Iowa game in 2020 two I that that may have been a tossup either way um there they're could to be an underdog in a lot of games this year right the Alabama game the Oregon game the Penn State game the USC game likely the game at Iowa and likely I guess we'll see how the season plays out but perhaps at North at uh Nebraska as well I can't remember the last time that they really faced this type of of slate where a lot of people are not expecting them to win games like these I don't know 2016 was a little bit different they had they had won 10 games the year before right like they won 10 games they beat USC in the bowl game they had you know there was there was coming at at different positions losing the alltime leader and wins at Wisconsin and Joel stby it's not easy to overcome so there were there were certainly challenges there in 2016 but I think it was that schedule was probably more so um what people were looking at as opposed to the team that was coming back they got a lot to prove this year I think that's the the simplest way to put it um on a number of fronts yeah and we'll see if they're able to do it they will be back on the field Wednesday morning and we'll get the chance to talk to the quarterbacks and offens coordinator Phil Longo afterwards and then we'll be here to uh discuss it tomorrow afternoon Jesse thank you very much thanks Zach all right there he is Jesse Temple from the athletic you've been listening to the camp