Who Becomes the Backup Nickel Cornerback for the Badgers?
Wisconsin has plenty of question marks to sort through before the opener, perhaps none more under the radar than backup nickel CB.
When Luke Fickell took over the Wisconsin football program — he made several notable offseason transfer portal additions. Although it didn’t come with the same fanfare as others — one of the most critically important pickups came from the Badgers bringing in slot cornerback Jason Maitre from Boston College.
Maitre, a 5-foot-10, 188-pound CB, comes to UW with a ton of experience, 41 games worth, to be exact. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s logged 2,155 career snaps across five seasons.
Of those, 179 came in the box, 700 at free safety, 824 from the slot, and 438 came as a boundary corner. So versatility is the name of his game — even though Maitre will handle the starting slot corner spot.
This past season, Maitre registered 42 tackles, seven stops, six pass deflections, four pressures, one sack, and one interception. His physical style of play should be a tremendous asset for a Wisconsin football secondary, replacing most of its cornerback snaps from last season.
This is a long-winded way of bringing me to one of my most prominent question marks — that I’m hoping the Badgers can answer during fall camp — who is the No. 2 nickel corner?