Wisconsin Football Gets Encouraging Injury Update From Luke Fickell

There are several reasons why the Badgers have gotten off to a slow start in 2023, but the good news for Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football team is that some help could finally be on the way.

During his weekly media availability, Coach Fickell provided injury updates on Isaiah Mullens and Cincinnati transfer Jake Renfro, who were both expected to contribute on the field this season — but suffered injuries before the opener.

“I would hope maybe this week,” Fickell told reporters. “If not this week, I would definitely expect that after the bye, unless something else happens, they should be back.”

Wisconsin Football is Starting to Get Healthy

There are no guarantees that Isaiah Mullens or Jake Renfro will be back this week or even if they’d be ready to play if cleared — but Wisconsin football having them as options during Big Ten play is invaluable.

Renfro missed all of last season due to an injury at Cincinnati, but before that, he was an All-AAC first-team member and a multi-year starting center for the Bearcats. According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-3, 310-pound center logged 1,126 snaps and allowed only four sacks in 602 pass-blocking sets.

His potential return to the lineup would give the Wisconsin Badgers the flexibility to kick Tanor Bortolini back out to guard, where he’s best suited to play — and provide Luke Fickell/Jack Bicknell seven offensive linemen to rotate.

As for Mullens, he’s not a playmaker, but he’s strong as an ox and will be an asset as a run defender/sawed-off tree stump that frees up linebackers to make plays. Given that Wisconsin football coach Greg Scruggs has rotated six defensive linemen thus far, adding a player with 40 games of experience can only be seen as a positive.

Both injuries will be something to monitor as the week progresses, but getting them healthy and practicing at full speed will have the most significant impact in the weeks ahead.

Contact/Follow us @Badger_Notes on Twitter, Subscribe to the BadgerNotes Newsletter here, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, opinion, and analysis. You can also follow Dillon Graff on Twitter @DillonGraff.

Follow this link and use promo code: BADGERNOTES for 25% off your next True Classic order.

Join the Badger Notes watch party and stream Wisconsin Badgers games by following this link.

*Subscribe to BadgerNotes After Dark on Youtube and wherever you find podcasts, the official Wisconsin Badgers podcast of the Big Banter Sports Network.