Wisconsin Football Coaches, Players With the Most to Prove in 2023

Madison, Wis. — The Wisconsin football program underwent wholesale changes this offseason — headlined by a new head coach, new offensive/defensive systems, and transfer portal additions, to name a few.

So when the Badgers return to the field for spring practice, there will be no shortage of storylines to follow. But which players and coaches will have the most to prove after UW’s wild offseason?

Defensive Coordinator – Mike Tressel

New defensive coordinator Mike Tressel has some mighty big shoes to fill. Fair or not, fans will compare all of his accomplishments to the man he’s replacing – Jim Leonhard.

Leonhard is a Wisconsin football legend and was one of the sport’s best and brightest defensive minds.

Tressel, the reigning AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year, who followed Luke Fickell to UW from Cincinnati, faces the challenge of meshing Leonhard’s 3-4 defense with his 3-3-5 system to accentuate the strengths of the personnel within the program and putting the best product on the field next season.

Last season, the Cincinnati Bearcats played 66.3% of its snaps out of a 3-3-5 personnel grouping. And anyone who watched Wisconsin football during the Leonhard era knows that UW ran a 3-4/2-4-5 most of the time.

“We’re spending a lot of time right now, second to recruiting, trying to figure out how to mesh the elite,” Tressel said, referring to Wisconsin’s run defense and Cincinnati’s pass-d.

Regardless of his credentials, Tressel must maintain UW’s reputation as an elite defense in 2023 to gain the trust of the Badgers fan-base.

Running Back’s Coach – Devon Spalding

It’s no secret that the Wisconsin football program is RBU – so holding the title of running back coach at UW is a big deal.

Luke Fickell hired Devon Spalding this offseason, who worked for him as a grad assistant at Cincinnati, as the new running backs coach, after spending the last three seasons working with the tailbacks at Youngstown State.

“Being a part of a place that has such a great tradition in running back play, the challenge is to continue to recruit the best running backs in the country and make sure the production that we put on the field on Saturdays from the running back room is up to par to what they’ve done here in the past,” Spalding told UW reporters.

“We have a standard that we set in that room,” Spalding said of his initial message to the players. “The expectations of production are very high. Everything we do is tailor-made towards one thing, and that’s being the best unit in the country in everything we do.”

Spalding is a fast riser in the coaching ranks, having wrapped up his playing career in 2018. Last season, he coached standout RB Jaleel McLaughlin, who ran for 1,588 yards and was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, honoring the FCS’s top offensive player

He inherits a talented running back room headlined by Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi, but I’m most interested to see what he can do to develop the RBs behind them.

Wisconsin football doesn’t have a slam-dunk option for its RB3, so monitoring the competition/improvements from Jackson Acker, Julius Davis, Cade Yacamelli, and Nate White during spring and fall camp will be intriguing.

Running Back – Braelon Allen

It feels kind of nit-picky to have Braelon Allen, arguably Wisconsin football’s MVP from last season, on this list, but hear me out.

After back-to-back second-team All-Big Ten seasons, Allen will finally play in a competent offensive scheme (thank you, Phil Longo).

The 6-foot-2, 238-pound RB finished the 2022 season with 230 carries for 1,242 yards (5.4 YPC) and 11 touchdowns. He also caught a career-high 13 passes for 104 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin native registered 671 yards after contact, 2.92 yards after contact per attempt, and was the highest-graded starting offensive player for the Badgers (79.6).

But he also saw a stacked box (8+ defenders) more than any other Power 5 running back in the nation. So for anyone concerned about his production dipping in efficiency, there’s your explanation.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that realistically, with the spacing Longo’s air raid scheme should provide, Allen should be well-positioned for a breakout season that vaults him into the NFL.

“I feel like I’m absolutely the best running back in the country heading into next season,” Allen told Max Chadwick of PFF. “The ideal plan is for me to have a great year and declare for the draft. The main goal, though, is to win a Big Ten title and a national championship. Once we start playing, I think we’ll realize that those goals are within reach.”

When you make bold comments like that, you have to back it up, and I think he will.

Outside Linebacker – Darryl Peterson

Wisconsin football lost Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton to the NFL this offseason, who, by themselves, accounted for over half of the team’s sacks (15.5) and nearly 30% of the Badgers’ total pressures.

That means UW needs the next star pass-rusher to step up. The problem is — nobody can be sure what the defensive alignment will look like under Mike Tressel — and there’s also no obvious candidate to take on that load.

Enter redshirt sophomore Darryl Peterson, who received a ton of hype last offseason and finally got his feet wet in 2023 as the Badgers third OLB, playing 165 total snaps.

The 6-foot-1, 245-pound OLB registered 27 tackles, 11 pressures, two sacks, two tackles for loss, and a disappointing 14.7 pass-rush win rate. Per PFF, Peterson finished with a 64.1 grade (average) as a pass-rusher.

He undoubtedly has the highest upside in the OLB room, but that needs to translate onto the field next season for Wisconsin football to be disruptive and get after the opposing team’s QBs.

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