Wisconsin Football 2012: Breaking Down Spring Practice

Wisconsin had another 11-win season last year and are looking to once again be one of the better teams in the Big Ten. They return a total of 11 starters and have the workhorse running back Montee Ball once again in the backfield.

Like most teams, this team also enters the spring with a ton of questions. That's, of course, what spring practice is for, as the Badgers will try and answer some of these questions. For Wisconsin, spring begins on March 17, and the Badgers will take the field and try to recapture the magic that led to a very successful season last year.

Wisconsin will try to reach a BCS bowl for the third year in a row, and it all begins when spring ball kicks off.

Here is everything you need to know about the Badgers and their spring practices, leading up to the spring game.

Schedule

Spring practice will begin March 17 for the Badgers, as they prepare for the spring game that will take place on April 28 at 4 pm.

You can purchase tickets to the game here.

Offensive Depth Chart

Quarterback: Joe Brennan, Bart Houston

Running Back: Montee Ball, James White, Jeff Lewis

Wide Receiver: Jeff Duckworth, Marquis Mason

Wide Receiver: Jared Abbrederis, Manasseh Garner

Tight End: Jacob Pedersen, Sam Arneson

Offensive Tackle: Ricky Wagner, Zac Matthias

Offensive Guard: Travis Frederick

Center: Ryan Groy, Jake Current

Offensive Guard: Robert Burge

Offensive Tackle: Rob Havenstein 

Defensive and Special Teams Depth Chart

Defensive End: Tyler Dippel, Pat Muldoon

Defensive Tackle: Beau Allen, Jordan Kohout

Defensive Tackle: Ethan Hemer

Defensive End: Brendan Kelly, David Gilbert

Strong-side Linebacker: Ethan Armstrong, Conor O'Neill

Middle Linebacker: Chris Borland, Marcus Trotter

Weak-side Linebacker: Mike Taylor, Derek Landisch, Conor O'Neill

Cornerback: Marcus Cromartie, Peniel Jean

Cornerback: Devin Smith, Devin Gaulden

Strong Safety: Shelton Johnson, Dezmen Southward

Free Safety: Michael Trotter

Kicker: Kyle French

Punter: Drew Meyer, Kyle French

Best Position Battle

A total of six starters left this explosive Wisconsin offense, but none is as big as senior quarterback Russell Wilson taking his talents to the next level. With the transfer quarterback no longer in the picture, it leaves a huge hole in this offense and a huge question mark entering the spring.

There are several quarterbacks that will compete for this position, but likely only a couple will end up competing during the spring. Junior quarterback Jon Budmayr suffered a nerve injury and won't be available during these practices, while senior quarterback Curt Phillips is still recovering from an ACL tear.

The quarterbacks we will see include sophomore Joe Brennan, who backed up Wilson last year and threw for 48 yards. We'll also get to see redshirt freshman Joel Stave for the first time, who really turned some heads in last season's spring game.

Regardless of who's available and who's not, the bottom line is that there isn't much experience at this position. Somebody is going to have to emerge from the pack for this team to have a chance to repeat the success they had last season.

Big Man on Campus

It really doesn't get much bigger than running back Montee Ball when you're talking about Wisconsin, or talking about one of the top players in all of college football.

This is a guy who rushed for over 1,900 yards and had 39 touchdowns, making it one of the greatest seasons in college football history.

He's an absolute workhorse that carried the ball 307 times last season and should see similar touches this year considering the inexperience at the quarterback position. He's without a doubt the best player on this Wisconsin team and should be a Heisman favorite heading into next year.

Biggest Shoes to Fill

Wisconsin is a program that usually just reloads on the offensive line, but replacing center Peter Konz isn't exactly going to be an easy task. The lucky person that will likely have the task of trying to replace one of the top offensive linemen will be junior Ryan Groy. 

Groy saw a lot of time at fullback during his redshirt freshman season and made his first start on the offensive line last season. He's seen time at left guard and has made a total of four starts on the offensive line in his entire career.

Groy has played well in limited time, but his lack of game-time experience may make things difficult when trying to replace such a great player like Konz.

Most Important Questions to Answer

Besides the questions at quarterback and offensive line, you have to be wondering about all of the coaching changes for Wisconsin during the offseason.

The biggest change of all is Matt Canada replacing Paul Chryst as the offensive coordinator. Other coaches that are no longer on the Wisconsin staff include wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander, offensive line coach Bob Bostad and linebackers coach Dave Huxtable.

That's a lot of coaches to change in one year, and it's going to be interesting to see just how quickly these guys can adjust to their new players and how their players adjust to them.