Wisconsin Defensive Line Room Season Outlook & Player Expectations
A quick look at the Wisconsin football defensive line room heading into fall camp and analyzing their individual expectations for the season.
With fall camp just around the corner for new head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football program -- BadgerNotes continues our rollout of position previews. We've already done QB, RB, WR, TE, and OL thus far.
But I want our position previews and season outlook write-ups to be different than a regurgitated version of what every outlet is putting out.
I want to approach this breakdown by establishing individual player expectations heading into the season so we can more effectively evaluate each player at the end of the season—that way, we can avoid being a prisoner of the moment.
So, let's review the breakdown of how we define player expectations:
No expectations (walk-ons, true freshmen, practice bodies).
Low expectations (roster fillers, third team players, next man up situation).
Moderate expectations (key backups & role players *how well are you playing the role asked of you).
High expectations (core players of the team you expect to make a big impact in their role or statistically).
Let's continue our series with the Wisconsin football defensive lineman.
High Expectations
Isaiah Mullens (RS SR)
Rodas Johnson (RS SR)
James Thompson Jr. (RS JR)
I'm placing Isaiah Mullens, Rodas Johnson, and James Thompson Jr. in the high-expectations group for the Badgers this season. This high expectations declaration has more to do with their status as players assumed to play prominent/starting roles for Wisconsin football and less to do with what I think their impact on the field will be.
Mullens returns to UW for a sixth and final season in Madison. In seven games last season, the 6-foot-4, 303-pound DL registered 11 tackles, eight pressures, two QB hits, and 1.5 TFL.
Yes, those numbers don't jump off the page, but stat stuffing isn't his game.
The Ohio native has played 651 snaps in his Badgers career and is strong as an ox, allowing him to eat up blocks in the trenches and free up linebackers to make plays. Mullens isn't going to make a significant impact, he's JAG, but those are also important to have on the roster.
Then you've got Johnson as a preferred starter at defensive end, who finished his junior season with 23 tackles, 6.0 TFLs, and a sack while registering a 61.6 PFF grade (average).
I'll admit, I think there is some potential for Johnson to be a slightly above-average starting defensive end this season -- he's had a few moments --, but it's hard to envision a breakout coming this late in his career.
Finally, the final player in this tier is Thompson Jr., who played 379 snaps last season for the Badgers. Consistency was an issue, but he had moments where he could potentially grow into an impact player on the defensive line. Can Mike Tressel pull that out of him?
Thompson Jr. appeared in 13 games last year, making seven starts and totaling 22 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 2.0 sacks, and a fumble recovery. The Ohio native also posted the only above-average PFF grade on the Wisconsin football defensive line outside of Keeanu Benton (72.9). He was a quality run defender and is athletic enough to take a step as a pass-rusher potentially.
To meet expectations, everyone in this group must be a rotational defensive lineman this fall and be no worse than a net neutral on the field. Expectations from this group aren't crazy high, and with the new coaching staff coming in, this room could look very different a year from now. I'm the least confident in handing out expectations from this room as any other position group because I don't see any returning difference-makers on the roster from last season.