How a Former Walk-On Became a Potential Starter for Wisconsin Football

It’s one of the most unconventional paths to the top of the depth chart that Wisconsin football fans have seen in recent years, but former walk-on Riley Nowakowski is currently in the driver’s seat for a starting job at tight end.

But how did we get here?

The redshirt junior began his career at the University of Wisconsin as a walk-on out of Marquette University High School. Initially, he was an outside linebacker under former head coach Paul Chryst but later moved to fullback because it gave him a much more straightforward path to playing time for the Badgers.

In 2022, Nowakowski appeared in 11 games at fullback and logged 120 offensive snaps. Overall he saw action in all 13 Wisconsin football games, serving as a core member of special teams, where he registered three tackles.

But when Luke Fickell and his coaching staff took over, they did the unthinkable…and abolished the fullback position.

Wisconsin Football Could Lean on Riley Nowakowski at Tight End

During spring practice, Riley Nowakowski transitioned to tight end full-time (he filled in at TE briefly the previous spring due to injuries). It didn’t take long before he was placed on scholarship and even finished spring ball on top of the depth chart.

We learned this week that former starting tight end Clay Cundiff and Jack Eschenbach were no longer with the program. Their departures cleared up the depth chart in a way that all but assured Nowakowski would have a legitimate chance to earn the starting job outright.

“So Riley was with the first team primarily because he’s the most consistent guy in that room right now,” Longo told reporters. “And I’m not telling you anything that I haven’t told him or we haven’t said, but he probably wouldn’t blow you off the chart if he was testing with a 40 time, height, or weight.

“But as far as being a great total package guy, he is. He did a good job running routes, did a great job catching the football, is physical, and gives great effort in the box. He’s really sound mentally, and he just overall was a really good total package guy.”

At 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, he’s a little smaller height-wise than your average tight end. But given the inexperience or questionable system fits behind him on the depth chart: Jack Pugh and Hayden Rucci come to mind; it’s reasonable to assume the assignment sound option like Nowakowski could be the starting TE when Wisconsin football takes on Buffalo.

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