Wisconsin Football: Position-by-Position Midseason Grades for the Badgers
This season has not started off as planned for the Wisconsin football team. After a near-miss against then-No. 13 LSU in Houston, the Badgers reeled off a trio of unimpressive victories before their slow starts got the best of them in their first true road game at Northwestern.
The Wisconsin Badgers (4-2, 1-1 Big Ten) have mostly underachieved, particularly in the passing game and defending the vertical passing game, but many of their faults have been made up for with well above-average run defense and one of the best rushing attacks in the country.
Looking at all nine position groups, I assigned grades based on performance at the midway point of the season. While I think the arrow is pointing up at some positions, grades have been assigned based on how that group has performed to date, not accounting for how they played just last week or whether there are signs of improvement.
With a couple of A's thrown in amidst some grades that might require a signature on the test, let's go through position-by-position to see where the Badgers stand through the first six games of the season, starting with the oft-maligned quarterbacks.
Quarterbacks
1 of 9
To say the quarterback position has been a problem for the Badgers is almost understatement. Starting in Week 1, when Tanner McEvoy's inability to string completions together showed up, the Badgers watched a 24-7 lead in the third quarter evaporate, en route to a 28-24 defeat.
In that game, McEvoy went 8-of-24 for 50 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, with his longest completion going for 14 yards. The next week, the Badgers played FCS Western Illinois, where McEvoy looked extremely competent, going 23-of-28 for 283 yards three touchdowns and an interception.
After airing the ball out 52 times in the first two games, McEvoy only got 48 more pass attempts in the four games since, which includes the game against Northwestern when he was pulled just before halftime and the Badgers' matchup with Illinois, when he saw one series as quarterback.
Against FBS opponents, McEvoy is 35-of-72 (48.6 completion percentage) with two touchdowns and four interceptions. To put it succinctly, that's terrible, and even with a Heisman Trophy candidate in your backfield, you aren't going to win many games with that kind of production at the quarterback spot.
Joel Stave slid in to the starting role halfway through the game against Northwestern and threw three interceptions in the second half, en route to a 20-14 loss. While many people would point to that and say "Bart Houston should be the guy," or "I played quarterback in high school, I could hand the ball to Melvin," Stave has actually been an improvement.
Stave is 15-of-33 (45.5 completion percentage) in his three halves of work, including an unspectacular performance against Illinois where he went 7-of-14 for 73 yards but stretched the defense out thanks to some long throws—albeit throws that did not find their target.
As it stands now, the quarterback play on this team has been dreadful, but with Stave under center and a cognizant effort to work McEvoy into the offense with a package of his own that utilizes his strengths as a runner who can throw short passes while rolling out, there is hope to turn this season around.
Grade: D
Running Backs
2 of 9
In five games against FBS opponents, Melvin Gordon has 1,008 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. He is averaging 201.6 yards and 2.6 touchdowns per game against FBS opponents. All while having a quarterback lined up in front of him who struggles to complete a forward pass.
Furthermore, Gordon's lead blocker, Derek Watt, has been out with an injury virtually all year. Gordon has struggled through his own injuries, forcing him to sit out much of the second half against LSU with a hip flexor, and he struggled against Western Illinois the following week.
Not much can be said about Gordon that has not already been said other than he's put himself in a position for a trip to New York. Whether he walks away with the Heisman is a different story, but he's certainly put himself in a position to be a finalist.
Corey Clement looks to be the running back of the future and for right now, is playing a strong second fiddle to Gordon. While coming into the season, it looked as if there would be a split of carries something akin to last year's with James White and Gordon, where both carried the ball roughly the same amount of times, this year, it's Gordon's backfield.
Clement has still racked up 75 carries, piling up 476 rushing yards and four touchdowns. He's also been an asset in the passing game, picking up six receptions for 84 yards and a score. Unfortunately for the Badgers, his 84 receiving yards is good for third best on the team.
One surprise in the backfield has been Dare Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale had never played running back before this season when a rash of injuries in the backfield to Watt as well as to freshmen Taiwan Deal and Caleb Kinlaw pressed the former cornerback from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, into action as running back.
In a rout of Bowling Green, which saw the Badgers pick up a school-record 644 rushing yards, Ogunbowale took the first 14 carries of his career for 94 yards. He has only carried the ball twice since, but having him as the emergency option is not nearly as bad as one may have thought.
Last but not least, fullback Austin Ramesh has done a very good job filling in for the injured Watt. He's been a solid lead blocker and has shown great hands for a fullback, pulling in three passes for 18 yards and a touchdown.
Grade: A+
Wide Receivers
3 of 9
When Jared Abbrederis departed, one knew that it would be a struggle to find a replacement for him and that the passing game would take some time to jell. Luckily, the Badgers found a go-to option, yet somehow, their passing game is in worse shape than one could have thought.
Alex Erickson has been tremendous thus far this season, hauling in 27 balls for 319 yards and a touchdown. Erickson's strength is in the short passing game, where he and Jordan Fredrick have combined as a terrifying duo on bubble screens, as Fredrick is easily the best downfield blocker on the team.
Past Erickson, four receivers have a reception this season. Those four players—Kenzel Doe, George Rushing, Reggie Love and Fredrick—have combined for 11 receptions for 97 yards. Those four have also combined for 10 carries for 123 yards.
Making matters worse, every receiver with at least one carry and a reception has more rushing yards than receiving yards.
If it wasn't for Erickson, this position group would get a flat F, but thanks to Erickson, who has played the Abbrederis-type role of propping up the rest of the receiving corps, they're receiving a passing grade.
Grade: C-
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Tight Ends
4 of 9
Amidst all of the glum of the receiving corps, despite losing the two starters from last season, the Badgers have one of the strongest tight end groups in the country.
Led by Sam Arneson, who has worked hard to become a better blocker, the Badgers have quickly pieced back together a very solid group here. Arneson is second on the team with 14 receptions and 228 receiving yards with two touchdowns.
Alongside Arneson is Austin Traylor and Troy Fumagalli. Fumagalli is the more accomplished receiver, hauling in five passes for 69 yards, good for fourth best on the team and would give him the second-highest yardage total if he were a wide receiver.
Traylor is the best blocker of the bunch, plowing over linebackers and giving Gordon plenty of room to run. Traylor also has one reception for nine yards, though his hands have been suspect at best, dropping multiple passes that would be first downs or even touchdowns.
With Jacob Pedersen establishing himself as one of Stave's favorite targets in the previous two seasons, look for Arneson to continue to be a favorite of Stave's this season, particularly in the red zone, where Arneson is quite the threat.
Grade: B+
Offensive Line
5 of 9
With a bevy of experience coming into the season, the Badgers knew that the offensive line would be one of the biggest strengths coming into the season. Everyone along the starting offensive line had started games before in a position group led by senior Rob Havenstein.
Havenstein and fellow lineman Kyle Costigan were pegged as first team All-Big Ten in the preseason by Phil Steele. Also picked for preseason All-Big Ten teams were Tyler Marz (third team) and Dan Voltz (fourth team). Rounding out the offensive line is Dallas Lewallen, who has been extremely good this season as well.
Despite facing stacked boxes, seeing as many as nine or even 10 guys across the line of scrimmage, the Badgers have run for 343 yards per game and have only allowed four sacks all season. That kind of production can be attributed to the road graders up front.
Grade: A-
Defensive Line
6 of 9
Against LSU, when both Konrad Zagzebski and Warren Herring went down, it looked like all was lost. After Herring went down in the third quarter, LSU ran all over the Badgers flummoxed front seven, which was already brand new.
Coming into the season, if there was one seemingly irreplaceable player, many would have pointed to Herring as the guy. He had the most experience and was tasked with filling in the massive shoes of Beau Allen, who now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles after never missing a game in his Badgers career.
Thankfully, Zagzebski's injury was not as serious as it looked, which required him to be stabilized on the field and looked bad enough to be career-ending. In fact, Zagzebski was out there the next week against Western Illinois.
Held together with tape and glue, the Badgers starting defensive line of Zagzebski, Arthur Goldberg and Chikwe Obasih have been very good for much of the year. Goldberg has been one of the biggest surprises while filling in for Herring and will give the team both good depth for this year and someone with experience at the nose next season.
On the end, Obasih has 15 tackles and 1.5 sacks and has been one of the more dynamic players the team has seen play defensive end in a while. Backing up Obasih is Alec James, who has six tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a fumble recovery on the season.
Obasih and James will form a formidable tandem for the foreseeable future, as both have athleticism the likes of which the team both hasn't seen to date and is exactly what the coaching staff is looking for.
Grade: B
Linebackers
7 of 9
When you lose arguably the best defensive player in team history, replacing him seems like a Herculean task. Thankfully, last season, the Badgers got a glimpse of the future when Chris Borland went down for a game-and-a-half.
In Borland's absence, Marcus Trotter stepped in and performed more than admirably, registering nine tackles against Illinois and then, in his first career start, nine more against Iowa.
Replacing all four starting linebackers from last season, save some uncomfortable spells where they've forgotten how to tackle, the replacements have been some of the brightest spots on the defense.
Starting inside with Derek Landisch and Trotter, they have filled in for Borland more than admirably. Landisch is second on the team with 33 tackles, leads the team with eight tackles-for-loss and leads the team with four sacks. He also has an interception and has been exactly what the doctor ordered.
Trotter has 28 tackles this season in five games and has been left to clean up after the defensive line in run support. Trotter is not great in pass coverage but is a sure tackler and has a nose for the ball. Also, his celebrations after nearly every tackle make you root for him that much more.
Filling in for Trotter against Illinois was Leon Jacobs, who punched well above his weight and shows that there is promise on the inside for the future. Jacobs had 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks against Illinois and used his athleticism to make plays all over the field.
On the outside, the Badgers have an excellent set of linebackers in Joe Schobert and Vince Biegel. Just when you think one of them is the best player on the team, the other one has an even bigger game the following week.
Schobert is third on the team with 30 tackles this season, to go along with five tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks, while Biegel is fifth on the team with 25 tackles, to go along with 5.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks. Both have forced a fumble and Biegel has a recovery to go with it.
Grade: B+
Secondary
8 of 9
I'll do my best to summarize the secondary of the Badgers in one sentence.
Other than Michael Caputo, the secondary has looked like a grease fire for stretches.
While that is an exaggeration, players outside of Caputo have looked good at times, but overall—save Caputo—the position group has been a nightmare.
Let's start with the good. Caputo leads the team in tackles with 45—12 more than the next highest total—he has 2.5 tackles-for-loss, an interception and a fumble recovery. He has also looked like the only player who remembered how to tackle against Northwestern. With Borland gone, Caputo's contributions shine even brighter.
On to the moderately good, where true freshman free safety Lubern Figaro is. Figaro has been caught cheating up one too many times for my liking but has an interception and a key forced fumble that helped ice away the game against South Florida.
Cornerbacks Darius Hillary and Derrick Tindal have both done some good as well, with Hillary playing extremely well against South Florida while Tindal, a true freshman, stood out against Northwestern, recording four tackles and a sack. He also blew a coverage on 3rd-and-long to keep alive a Northwestern drive that turned into points.
When it comes to the bad, everyone has had their moments, even Caputo, who struggles covering pass plays down the field. But the person who has struggled the most has been Sojourn Shelton. The sophomore cornerback was excellent last season, which makes this year's struggles all the more exaggerated.
Last season, as a true freshman, Shelton had 36 tackles and four interceptions. This season, in six games, Shelton has 15 tackles and no interceptions while committing a bevy of drive-extending penalties and dropping multiple sure-fire interceptions.
Making matters worse, the Badgers have only four interceptions this season, none of which have come from their starting cornerbacks—Hillary and Shelton—nor have they come from Devin Gaulden (the nickel corner) or Tindal.
Grade: C
Special Teams
9 of 9
As a kicker the same size as Wisconsin's inside linebackers (231 pounds), Rafael Gaglianone became an instant fan-favorite. His first career field goal was a make from 51 yards in his first career attempt on national television away from home, but Gaglianone has been a bit disappointing since the LSU game.
While one needs to remember he's a true freshman kicker from Brazil kicking in cold climates for the first time, Gaglianone is only 6-of-9 on field goals and has a missed extra point on the season. He has a huge leg but needs to become more accurate, something that will hopefully come with time.
When it comes to punting, Drew Meyer has been dreadful, giving the ball back to the other team in plus-territory time and again. With an average of 39.0 yards per punt and only 34.1 net yards per punt, he needs to improve as the schedule toughens.
Against teams like Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, who the Badgers happen to play in consecutive weeks to close the season, field position will be incredibly important and Meyer punting the ball less than 40 yards won't cut it.
In the return game, after a slow start, Kenzel Doe has come on as a solid kick returner and a pretty good punt returner. He is averaging 21.4 yards per kick return and 11.4 yards per punt return while looking like he was one missed tackle away from a touchdown multiple times.
Grade: C
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
