Wisconsin Football Pass-Rushing Threat Beginning to Emerge For Badgers

Ever since Gary Anderson became head coach of the Badgers and brought in Dave Aranda as defensive coordinator, Wisconsin football has been an outside linebacker factory. However, when Nick Herbig declared for the NFL draft a year ahead of schedule, the University of Wisconsin found itself without a definitive and impactful EDGE rusher as it entered the 2023 season.

The most logical fit to fill that role from a talent standpoint was redshirt sophomore Darryl Peterson — who has the highest upside in the outside linebacker room — but showed very little as the No. 3 OLB a year ago. 

In the 2022 season, Peterson appeared in all 13 games, amassing 29 tackles, 11 pressures, 2.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, and a fumble recovery. However, his pass-rushing performance was less than stellar, with a win percentage of just 6.7%, ranking him 13th on the Wisconsin football team, according to Pro Football Focus. 

Now in a starting role, as the season’s first four games unfolded, the Ohio native’s performance has started to come together, and this improvement has become evident as the Badgers head into their bye week.

Wisconsin Football May Have an Impact Pass-Rusher in Darryl Peterson

Through four weeks, Darryl Peterson has registered 16 tackles, a team-high 14 pressures, 11 stops, 4.5 TFLs, and 2.0 sacks. Per PFF, the 6-foot-1, 245-pound outside linebacker has also improved his pass-rush win rate to 14.7% — more than doubling last season’s output.

In terms of his performance, Peterson has accumulated eight pressures and two sacks in games against Georgia Southern and Purdue alone, potentially signaling that he’s turned a corner and blossoming in the framework of this new defensive scheme.

pic.twitter.com/SxR7DhRwcu

— Badgers Film Clips (@Badgers_Film) September 17, 2023

His recent wave of production has been a welcomed site for a Wisconsin football team that Pro Football Focus has rated No. 75 in the country in pass-rushing grades. Other linebackers in the rotation, such as C.J. Goetz and Jeff Pietrowski, have a combined 14 pressures.

In all likelihood, the Wisconsin Badgers defense doesn’t have the talent in the cupboard to suddenly start producing eye-popping sack numbers like in years past, especially when you consider that defensive end James Thompson Jr. and inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta are second and third on the team in pressures, respectively.

From the outset of the season, we were aware that our outside linebackers might face challenges when it comes to applying pressure. While Peterson has shown drastic improvement recently, the Badgers still lack that dominant presence on defense – someone offenses have to worry about every single play, a game-wrecking player who instills fear in our opponents.

Either way, this is an encouraging development to watch coming out of the Wisconsin football bye week.

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 football 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.