Wisconsin Safety Room Season Outlook & Player Expectations
A quick look at the Wisconsin Badgers safeties 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, OL, DL, OLB, and ILBs 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 safeties.
High Expectations
Kamo'i Latu (SR)
Hunter Wohler (JR)
Travian Blaylock (RS SR)
I'm placing Kamo'i Latu, Hunter Wohler, and Travian Blaylock in the high-expectations group for the Badgers this season because all three players, when healthy, are starting-caliber players in my eyes.
Latu spent two seasons at Utah before transferring to the Wisconsin football program last year. He appeared in 13 games last season, starting 12, and registered 55 tackles, 6.0 pressures, 3.0 TFLs, and 3.0 pass deflections, with 2.0 sacks and 2.0 interceptions.
The hard-hitting safety finished with a PFF grade of (64.1-above-average) and should be a nice hybrid player that can come up in the box and offer run support.
Conversely, Wohler will be playing the 'Dollar' position for new DC Mike Tressel. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound safety played six games last season, logged 213 total snaps, and registered 21 tackles, 11 stops, one TFL, plus an interception. It's also worth noting that PFF graded him as the fifth-best tackler on the Wisconsin football team among those who played at least 100 snaps (79.1).
Wohler showed his versatility for the Badgers by playing 20 snaps up on the DL, 76 in the box, 98 at FS, and 17 in the slot. He's going to play everywhere in 2023 and could be one of the most important players on Wisocnsin's defense.
Blaylock will be another versatile chess piece Wisconsin can move around next season. He's one of the best athletes in the secondary and has 22 games of experience. I just pray he can stay healthy, because Blaylock has a lot of physical tools you can't teach and could become an impact player in his final season.
Everyone in this grouping needs to be above-average to high-quality player by Pro Football Focus standards to meet expectations. Wohler has a chance to be a star if everything breaks right.
Wisconsin Safeties With Moderate Expectations
Austin Brown (SO)
I'm putting sophomore safety Austin Brown in the moderate expectations group.