Wisconsin Offensive Line Room Season Outlook & Player Expectations
A quick look at the Wisconsin football offensive 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, and TEs, 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 offensive lineman.
High Expectations
Jack Nelson (RS JR)
Tanor Bortolini (RS JR)
Riley Mahlman (RS SO)
Joe Huber (RS JR)
Jake Renfro (RS JR)
I’m placing Jack Nelson, Joe Huber, Jake Renfro, Tanor Bortolini, and Riley Mahlman in the high-expectations group because this is who I think will be in the starting five for the Badgers this season.
Wisconsin football finished as the No. 15 pass-blocking offensive line last season and the No. 27 run-blocking unit in CFB. The results were good but could have been better.
This season, UW is far more experienced. Nelson has 25 career starts under his belt, Renfro has 19, Bortolini has 16, Huber has 13, and Mahlman has six. And if they can stay healthy, a little continuity could go a long way this season.
Nelson has what it takes to be an NFL-caliber offensive tackle, and a fully healthy Renfro could be the x-factor on the offensive line. His health allows players like Huber and Bortolini to stay in one spot and lock it down. For Mahlman, this will be a big season for his development. The Minnesota native was average at best last season, but all the tools are there for Mahlman to be an absolute DUDE — I think he’ll take a big step.
The new up-tempo air raid system will be a stark change for a group that’s been asked to maul in the run game for decades, but the Badgers won’t be able to reach their ceiling in 2023 if the offensive line doesn’t play like one of the best units in the conference.
To meet expectations, everyone in this group needs to hold down their starting spot while healthy and grade no worse than the above-average to high-quality range by Pro Football Focus next season (no, the stats are not perfect, but they’re one of the best data points we have as fans to evaluate offensive line play from).