Wisconsin Football: 3 Badgers Set to Play Expanded Roles in Bowl Game

When Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team take the field against No. 13 LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Day, the Badgers will do so with a depth chart that looks substantially different.

Since the Badgers took down Minnesota in the regular season finale to reclaim the Axe, Wisconsin, like all schools, has had several players transfer out who were in the two-deep or opt-out to prepare for the draft.

That’s just the nature of college football nowadays. The transfer portal has essentially allowed free agency to begin before the program’s season ends — turning most bowl games into glorified scrimmages.

However, for those fully committed to a particular program, bowl prep provides younger, less experienced players additional practice time and a chance to show what they can do when given the expanded opportunity.

With several contributors departing from the Wisconsin football team, these are the top three Badgers I’m eager to see in expanded roles against LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium.

Defensive Lineman, Curt Neal

An already thin Wisconsin defensive line took a big hit when Rodas Johnson entered the transfer portal along with reserve DE Darian Varner. The Johnson departure, in particular, opened up a spot in the Badgers’ starting lineup that redshirt freshman DE Curt Neal will eagerly step into. 

Neal appeared in all 12 games for the Badgers in 2023 and registered 12 tackles, six pressures, four QB hits, and 1.5 TFLs in 225 snaps as a reserve. Pro Football Focus gave the 6-foot, 300-pound defensive lineman a 63.1 grade — which is considered slightly above average. 

Had it not been for an ACL tear while Neal was still in high school, there’s a good chance he never would have wound up with the Wisconsin football program. Plenty of blue-blood schools bowed out of his recruitment because of it. 

The North Carolina native is slightly undersized but forced his way into Greg Scruggs’ defensive line rotation more and more as the year wore on. With Johnson no longer in the mix, you can bet that this staff wants to see what he’s capable of in a more significant role.   

There’s some upside here as a potential run-stopper, and the Badgers need as many functional bodies on the DL as they can get. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with the opportunity.

Inside Linebacker Christian Alliegro

True freshman linebacker Christian Alliegro from Avon Old Farms has all the physical tools to become a dude on the Wisconsin football defense. 

Luke Fickell and his staff brought in Alliegro late in the 2023 recruiting class, and with the benefit of hindsight, that seems ridiculous when you consider how well he moves at 6-foot-4, 228 pounds. 

Alliegro is an excellent fit for what the Badgers want to do on defense, and he even started to earn some playing time at ILB down the stretch. He appeared in 12 games, primarily on special teams, and showed some impressive flashes, finishing with four tackles, two pressures, 1.0 TFL, a sack, and one pass deflection in 32 defensive snaps. 

pic.twitter.com/xnboX5lZSb

— Badgers Film Clips (@Badgers_Film) November 15, 2023

The coaching staff is incredibly high on his upside, and with Jordan Turner off to Michigan State, the Badgers will undoubtedly get Alliegro some extra run to use as a springboard into 2024. 

Center, Jake Renfro

If you were to rewind to last offseason, Jake Renfro looked like one of the biggest transfer portal additions Luke Fickell and company were able to bring in. On paper, it looked like the Badgers had found a plug-and-play starting center that was among the most sought-after OLs in the portal. 

Fast forward to the present day, and Wisconsin football fans still haven’t seen Renfro play a single snap. In fact, he has yet to appear in a game since Cincinnati’s College Football Playoff appearance against Alabama in 2021, when he and Fickell were both with the Bearcats. 

The former All-AAC first-team center will finally get his chance to play during the ReliaQuest Bowl now that Tanor Bortolini has officially declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. 

According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-3, 310-pound lineman has logged 1,126 snaps, all at center during his career, and has allowed only four sacks in 602 pass-blocking sets. 

After waiting a full year, Wisconsin Badgers football will finally get an extended look at Renfro. The staff will undoubtedly be evaluating him to see if they’ll need to dip back into the portal to fill that void or if Renfro can finally be the starting center they envisioned.

“One of the things I’ll tell you that he does an outstanding job of is he is as crisp of a snapper as I’ve been around in a while,” Longo told reporters. “He gets it back there. And those things might seem like a little thing, but it’s an asset. It helps us with the RPOs, it helps us the timing of the run game, helps us get into our drops sooner. So that’s been a pleasant surprise also with Jake [Renfro].”

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