MADISON, Wis. — Another edition of the Badgers mailbag is here. And this time, we have actual spring practices to discuss, with Wisconsin finally getting underway last Saturday. But the topics this week go well beyond what’s happening on the field.
Questions include whether Paul Chryst is vindicated with Saeed Khalif’s contract reportedly not being renewed at Michigan State, the confidence level in Wisconsin’s Playoff chances under Luke Fickell, what a typical spring practice looks like, where things stand with recruiting and expectations in Phil Longo’s offense.
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Could you walk us through what a typical spring practice looks like? How much of it is individual or position group drills vs. 11 on 11 game simulation? As an observer, how much are you able to learn about how the players are progressing given that format? — John H.
I won’t list the entire practice plan, but early, the vast majority of practices have consisted primarily of drill work with a smattering of 11-on-11 game-like situations. Wisconsin stretches and then goes into some special teams work on one end with its punt unit, rotating through its top two groups. Drills like that are important to watch because it shows who the top punter is so far (Jack Van Dyke) and who is in position to be the punt returner. Chimere Dike has been the main returner, with Will Pauling and CJ Williams earning a handful of opportunities.
There have been plenty of position-specific drills but also some new wrinkles. I mentioned in my first practice report that the quicker tempo was noticeable. One example has been how the quarterbacks and receivers work together. One quarterback takes a snap from the left hash and throws a pass to one of three receivers lined up on that side. The next quarterback takes a snap from the right hash immediately after and duplicates the drill. It really feels as though Wisconsin is getting more snaps in during a practice than ever before. I’ve also seen quarterbacks working with running backs on RPO handoff situations, which is different.
The (WI)red we’ve all been waiting for…@CoachFick makes his mic’d up debut. 👀 pic.twitter.com/yuDQ7vTlV7
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 29, 2023
There are a lot of opportunities for quarterbacks to get in throws, including during 1-on-1 drills in which a wide receiver matches up against a defensive back. I’d say there are a fair number of pass plays in what are called skeleton drills, which are snaps without line involvement. Wisconsin also has practiced some red zone work.
The most exciting aspect of any practice is the 11-on-11 team sessions. Wisconsin has generally rotated between skeleton and 11-on-11 and back, though we’re not talking about a situation in which officials are moving the ball after a 6-yard gain. It’s usually snaps taken from the same yard line for about four plays before the next unit takes over.
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In that sense, even the full team competition doesn’t mirror a game-like situation (yet). But I already have learned a ton about this team in a week. I’m able to see formations, who lines up with the first- or second-team units and who is consistently in the right spots to make plays. That helps me form way more informed conclusions about where the team is headed.
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Luke Fickell and Badgers recruiting was red hot but seems to have cooled off a lot — and just lost two battles for top targets with Michigan. Comments on the recruiting front? — John S.
Wisconsin secured three commitments for its 2024 recruiting class in December and January — four-star quarterback Mabrey Mettauer, four-star tight end Grant Stec and three-star tight end Rob Booker — but has not added to the class in two months. As you mentioned, two players who visited Wisconsin for junior day (four-star running back Jordan Marshall and three-star offensive tackle Ben Roebuck) committed to Michigan. Marshall had Wisconsin in his top four.
It’s important to remember that February was an NCAA dead period, which means coaches couldn’t have in-person contact with recruits or their parents, and there can be ebbs and flows with commitments depending on the recruiting calendar. I think Wisconsin is in a good spot overall, and the recruiting staff clearly is putting in major work to coordinate recruiting visits with Wisconsin’s spring practices.
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Among the out-of-state visitors for the first spring practice Saturday were four-star 2025 athlete Eli Owens (Alcoa, Tenn.), three-star 2024 safety Leontre Bradford (East Saint Louis, Ill.), three-star 2024 defensive lineman Dillan Johnson (Joliet, Ill.) and three-star 2024 athlete I’Marion Stewart (Chicago). Johnson earned a scholarship offer on his visit. Stewart’s high school teammate, receiver Kyan Berry-Johnson, visited for practice Tuesday. It marked his second visit this year, and I’d be surprised if Wisconsin doesn’t land him. Practice this Saturday is expected to bring another massive recruiting day.
Wisconsin will continue to have prospects on campus throughout the spring, but the Badgers have done a phenomenal job over the years of delivering on their campus visits in June. We’ll have to see how the class plays out, but I’d expect a good blend of out-of-state and in-state prospects (six uncommitted players from Wisconsin have a Badgers offer).
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Paul Chryst was heavily criticized for letting his recruiting coordinator leave for Michigan State and not having a replacement for many months. Now, that coordinator has left MSU. Does this in some way vindicate PC? — Steve S.
For those who did not come across the news, former Wisconsin director of player personnel Saeed Khalif won’t have his contract renewed at Michigan State, according to a report from Corey Robinson of Spartan Tailgate. Robinson’s report cited frustration with how Khalif handled Michigan State’s recruitment of top prospects and lack of suitable backup plans, as well as staff departures within the creative team and recruiting department, as possible reasons for the decision.
While Khalif was in charge of Wisconsin’s recruiting, the Badgers secured their three best classes during the internet rankings era. The 2019 class ranked No. 29 in the 247Sports Composite, the 2020 class was No. 26 and the 2021 class was No. 16. Those classes, like most, were a mixed bag. Four-star 2020 running back Jalen Berger was dismissed from the program by Chryst in 2021. The top 2019 signee, five-star offensive lineman Logan Brown, didn’t live up to expectations and was dismissed from the program by interim coach Jim Leonhard last season for an incident at practice. Other four-star players like center Joe Tippmann and outside linebacker Nick Herbig became stars and declared early for the NFL Draft.
Khalif left Wisconsin to work for Mel Tucker in June 2021 and took on more of a general manager role at Michigan State, which allowed him to help build a team and manage scholarship counts. I talked to Khalif in August 2021, and he said that, while he loved Chryst as a coach, the two didn’t necessarily share the same type of vision for recruiting.
“I think he was still maybe — suspicious is a strong word — but not really sure about me and what I was trying to do and how I was trying to do it,” Khalif said. “And did it really match him and what he wanted? I don’t know if that was there.”
Even if the Chryst-Khalif pairing wasn’t an ideal fit, and even if Khalif wasn’t retained at Michigan State for reported shortcomings, that still doesn’t excuse Chryst’s decision to go eight months without a legitimate recruiting staff after Khalif left. Yes, there were budget cutbacks within the athletic department related to the pandemic. But Chryst opted not to fill the position and instead moved Eric Johnson, on the staff as executive director of football administration, over to spearhead recruiting.
When I asked Johnson in October if he had a recruiting staff, he succinctly replied: “No.” But he defended the approach and praised the work of the assistant coaches who pitched in.
“I think all the coaches individually did a great job of making that a priority along with everything else,” Johnson told me. “There’s enough time in the day. When you’re in the office 16 hours a day, there’s enough time to do that and I think they did a great job of doing that.”
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I wrote a story this week on Wisconsin’s revamped recruiting department, led by Pat Lambert and Max Stienecker. If you read that story, you will understand why having a dedicated recruiting department is so vital in the modern age of college football. Those guys are in the office for more than 14 hours a day and are devoted to monitoring every facet of recruiting for Fickell. Chryst eventually beefed up the recruiting department before he was fired, but how he handled the staff after Khalif left put Wisconsin’s recruiting behind.
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Under the prior regime, when asked if the Badgers had a legitimate shot of competing for the College Football Playoff, you generally said the chances were low. You seem to have more optimism now. Aside from Playoff expansion, what else contributes to your optimism? And do you think you would feel the same way if the coach was Jim Leonhard? — Michael A.
Playoff expansion is the single biggest contributor to my optimism. Winning the Big Ten isn’t going to get any easier with the elimination of divisions and the inclusion of USC and UCLA. But Wisconsin no longer has to win the league, which it hasn’t done in 11 years, to reach a Playoff that expands from four to 12 teams in 2024.
It’s the type of move that helps a program like Wisconsin, which has been very good though rarely great. As I’ve said before, Wisconsin would have qualified for a 12-team Playoff based on its ranking eight times since the BCS era began in 1998. Yet the Badgers have not yet managed to break through when there has been a four-team Playoff.
The addition of Fickell and all the moves he has made also has to play a role here. Fickell helped Cincinnati become the first Group of 5 team to reach the four-team Playoff in 2021. That Cincinnati team handed an 11-win Notre Dame team its only regular-season loss in South Bend, Ind. It beat a Top-25 Houston team to win the conference championship. Having an understanding of what it takes to win those battles, as well as 15 years in the Big Ten at Ohio State, stands out.
Would I feel the same if Jim Leonhard was in charge? It’s hard to say because the coaching staff and roster would look entirely different. Leonhard was one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. But he also may have ceded that role for someone like Bobby April if he was going to be the head coach. I’m guessing Wisconsin’s offense wouldn’t be as radically different as it is now, either. I think Leonhard had the potential to help Wisconsin reach the Playoff, but having a more proven head coaching commodity like Fickell is a major plus.
From what you see or talking with players and coaches, if Phil Longo’s offense is built on receivers making decisions on how to break routes, how does the QB stay aligned in the heat of the play with multiple receivers and options in play? It seems like it sets up interceptions from miscalls. — Carl T.
I certainly had this question when Longo was hired, and I’m going to allow Jeremiah Briscoe to answer since he was Longo’s record-breaking quarterback at Sam Houston in 2016 when he threw 57 touchdown passes. Here’s what Briscoe had to say when I talked to him in December after Longo was hired at Wisconsin.
“You get to that point where the receivers have the freedom to essentially not get covered,” Briscoe said. “But you do that by consistent repetition every single day. You’re on the same page with your receivers. You have an identity. That’s what I think gets lost with a lot of coordinators is you don’t have an identity because you’re changing your offense almost every week to match what the new defense is doing.
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“We’re going to be really, really good at what we do. It doesn’t matter what the coverage is. We have the answers for everything built in. That’s how you simplify things, that’s how you play fast, that’s how you really get on the same page. People are always hesitant to do that because they’re like, ‘Oh, what if the quarterback and the receiver aren’t on the same page?’ It’s like, ‘Well, that happens because you don’t practice it enough.’”
What are realistic expectations for adaptation of Longo’s playbook? Has it historically taken teams a while to completely adjust to his offense? What position will struggle the most to adapt? — Alex W.
I liken this offense to chess in the sense that it’s something that can be learned fairly quickly but may take a bit more time to master. Longo’s former players and coaches have talked about how he is able to simplify the game and give skill-position players the freedom to be athletes. But, as Briscoe said, it also requires consistent practice for everybody to be on the same page.
Longo pointed out after he was hired in January that he expects rapid results. At Sam Houston, for example, he implemented the Air Raid after the team had run the triple-option offense under Willie Fritz — two styles that could not be more different. The Bearkats promptly reached the FCS national semifinal in Longo’s first season.
Longo said his plan for Wisconsin’s players to learn the offense would be to spend the first four days of spring practice installing all of it and the next four re-installing and polishing the product. The second half of the spring will focus on working on situational football. This is clearly a drastic departure from what Wisconsin has done in the past, and early practices have shown that there is a learning curve.
I’d say the offensive linemen have the biggest challenge simply based on the pace of play, which I detailed Monday. The good news for Wisconsin is that there is genuine enthusiasm about what’s happening under a new coaching staff, which creates an eagerness to learn.
(Photo: John Fisher / Getty Images)
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