Takeaways from Wisconsin football fall camp practice No. 1
The Badgers kicked off preseason camp on a warm and muggy morning.
PLATTEVILLE, WIS. — The University of Wisconsin football team gave a potential glimpse of what its offensive line could look this season, but there’s still a long way to go between now and Aug. 28.
Wisconsin trotted out its offense during 11-on-11 periods on a warm and muggy Tuesday morning at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. Eyes were on two particular positions that have some questions to answer.
Central Michigan transfer Davis Heinzen received first-team reps at left tackle, while redshirt freshman Emerson Mandell worked at right guard.
They joined left guard Joe Brunner, center Jake Renfro and right tackle Riley Mahlman with first-team reps.
Redshirt senior JP Benzschawel slid out to the edge at second-team left tackle. He was joined in second-team reps by redshirt freshmen Colin Cubberly (left guard) and Ryan Cory (center), graduate Kerry Kodanko (right guard) and redshirt junior Leyton Nelson (right tackle).
Heinzen has extensive experience starting at left tackle and left guard in the MAC, but he’s moving up to Power Four competition and facing one of the toughest college football schedules this season.
Kodanko and Mandell were at least two names in contention to play right guard this season, with Kodanko playing significant first-team snaps during the spring. Benzschawel playing left tackle to start camp was somewhat surprising.
But Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell foreshadowed those combinations are not set in stone.
“There's going to be some movement in the first few days to see how those things go,” Fickell said. “Again, you got to find seven or eight, and so what that combination looks like, we still got to figure out.”
Here are other takeaways from Tuesday’s practice.