Wisconsin Football Defensive Lineman Will Miss a Few Weeks Due to Injury

Wisconsin football returned to Madison for their second week of fall camp after spending the first down at UW-Platteville to kick things off.

After it was reported by Zach Heilprin earlier this week that senior linebacker and leading tackler Maema Njongmeta had surgery on his hand and will now wear a club — Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweeted that redshirt freshman Curt Neal was on crutches because of a right leg/knee injury.

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell confirmed that Neal would miss a few weeks.

It appears the #Badgers have two dependable kickers in Vakos and Van Zelst…Chez Mellusi (head) held out again. NT Curt Neal (right leg/knee) was on crutches. Fickell said Monday Neal would miss a few weeks.

— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) August 9, 2023

Wisconsin Football Loses a Promising Defensive Lineman to Injury

While the loss of Curt Neal doesn’t affect the active defensive line rotation, Greg Scruggs has talked about wanting to rotate eight players at the position, so his short-term odds of making that grouping are low.

As a true freshman, Neal appeared in four games, totaling 47 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, and registered three tackles, two stops, and a pressure. Theoretically, he would have been someone pushing for time on the interior to stop the run.

The 6-foot, 300-pound nose tackle was a highly regarded high school recruit and a big recruiting win for the Wisconsin football program at the time. Although Neal suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss his senior season, he chose the Badgers over offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Arkansas, Georgia, Auburn, Florida State, and several other Power 5 programs.

After returning to full health, Neal had a real chance to establish an early role at nose tackle, given the lack of bodies at that spot. With him missing the next few weeks — it’ll be interesting to see if we start hearing more about true freshman Jamel Howard getting more opportunities.

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