Badgers Football 2019

[OldHeidelberg]

Biggest winner today: Cephus

 

 

That over the shoulder fingertip catch on the long TD was the play of the game.

 

Coan looked really good, CM clearly decided to make him beat them and he did easily. Really looking forward to the Michigan game, we will find out how real this team is in a couple of weeks. Right now they look like a 10+ win team.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Coan has improved. Going to be interesting to see what he does against better secondary competition.

[MrTPlush]

The run blocking is becoming a bit concerning to me. Second game in a row they were getting stuffed left and right. This is USF and Central Michigan...can you imagine Big Ten opponents? It’s easy to cover up when those teams can’t consistently stop you and your passing game is able to pick up the slack on long downs.

 

2nd or 3rd and Long are going to be killer against better competition. Coan ain’t going to make those teams look silly all the time and those teams are going to have their A-game more consistently.

 

That has to get better. If we start needing to trust Coan to make 10+ yard throws all the time against good teams the offense is likely going to struggle.

[HiAndTight]

The run blocking is becoming a bit concerning to me. Second game in a row they were getting stuffed left and right. This is USF and Central Michigan...can you imagine Big Ten opponents? It’s easy to cover up when those teams can’t consistently stop you and your passing game is able to pick up the slack on long downs.

 

2nd or 3rd and Long are going to be killer against better competition. Coan ain’t going to make those teams look silly all the time and those teams are going to have their A-game more consistently.

 

That has to get better. If we start needing to trust Coan to make 10+ yard throws all the time against good teams the offense is likely going to struggle.

 

 

I don't think they've really got their OL figured out. They've been rotating guys in the OL. They're probably looking for their 5 best.

 

Defense looks really good despite the quality of opponents. Michigan nearly lost to Army this past week.

[homer]

I remember several Badger teams that after the first game or two and you didn't think they were going to dominate the run game and then something gels and they just start annihilating people.

[JosephC]

Based on what I've seen the first couple of games, I think Erdmann and Seltzner have easily looked like the better guards and IMO Lyles should not be rotating in during the Michigan game unless he really shows something in the practices leading up to the game. Will also point out that the starting right tackle, Logan Bruss, did not play in the Central Michigan game and they rotated two players in that spot to try to get the depth chart aligned for the rest of the year. But that position is not up for grabs, that's Bruss' job if he is healthy enough to play. So there were some factors that played into all those moving parts...to me it seems obvious who the best five are but we'll see what the unit's health is and how Chryst handles the guard rotation in the Michigan game.

 

From what I hear in Madison, it sounds like the coaches are happy with pretty much everything except tight end depth. They've had a ton of injuries there...even Ferguson is coming off a hand injury...and if Ferguson got hurt there would be some real problems. Last week they listed a 224 pound redshirt freshman as Ferguson's backup...Jack Eschenbach...and I follow UW football pretty well and had never even heard of that guy. Bucky probably pretty lucky that they have four receivers that they feel really good about. But the Badgers do like to have a couple brute TEs that can block and they are missing that guy right now.

[Jenkins5]

I remember several Badger teams that after the first game or two and you didn't think they were going to dominate the run game and then something gels and they just start annihilating people.

 

You lose four guys on the line who started a ton (understatement) of games and played at all-big 10 level or higher. Three who are on NFL rosters & believe playing. The group covered & was featured in Sports Illustrated even https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/08/08/wisconsin-badgers-offensive-line-red-robin-jonathan-taylor They were special.

 

Now like every few years we need to reload. Talent is there, coaching is there, and scheme is there. They just need to grow together and gel. Van Lanen got a good amount of work I& is Jr. , Bruss (soph) made few starts as well but rest is pretty young and green. Erdmann & Moorman are seniors who haven’t been able to get on field much due to the 4 studs who left. The sophomore group has Lyles who played defense all season, Seltzner, and Beach who pretty much only got mop up duty last year.

 

We started slower when Beau, Dietzen, Deiter also started out as well. I’m sure by mid season they will have right combo & just be steam rolling Defenses

[PeaveyFury]

The TE room will be much better when Neuville is back. He's a monster run blocker at the very least, and he'll be a huge asset in the run game.

[HiAndTight]

I remember several Badger teams that after the first game or two and you didn't think they were going to dominate the run game and then something gels and they just start annihilating people.

 

You lose four guys on the line who started a ton (understatement) of games and played at all-big 10 level or higher. Three who are on NFL rosters & believe playing. The group covered & was featured in Sports Illustrated even https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/08/08/wisconsin-badgers-offensive-line-red-robin-jonathan-taylor They were special.

 

Now like every few years we need to reload. Talent is there, coaching is there, and scheme is there. They just need to grow together and gel. Van Lanen got a good amount of work I& is Jr. , Bruss (soph) made few starts as well but rest is pretty young and green. Erdmann & Moorman are seniors who haven’t been able to get on field much due to the 4 studs who left. The sophomore group has Lyles who played defense all season, Seltzner, and Beach who pretty much only got mop up duty last year.

 

We started slower when Beau, Dietzen, Deiter also started out as well. I’m sure by mid season they will have right combo & just be steam rolling Defenses

 

 

Not trying to be a contrarian, but that was a really overrated OL in my opinion. David Edwards, I kept hearing how he was going to be a future 1st rounder right after he started playing, not long after moving over from TE. One of the worst blindside tackles we've had in a while and he wasn't a very good run blocker. Dieter and Dietzen...they were talented, but just never that dominate unit. I think this group has the chance to be better. Pretty much ever Badger who was good players in the NFL in recent memory except for Costigan. It was more that Edwards seemed to get beat pretty badly at times and there just wasn't that cohesion. If felt like Dietzen was moving all over the place, Dieter never really played up to his level, Beau-whatever, the big guy from Arrowhead, he wasn't dominant.

 

Maybe it's because I expected this OL to be just dominant when they had all Fresh and Soph's starting a couple years ago and then David Edwards came in as this highly regarded prospect and they never seemed to gel as one of these great OL's.

 

I could be wrong. I'll be the first to admit, I watch Packers games much closer than Badgers games. I see more in person and when I do watch them on TV, I don't focus on the player like I do the Packers. Plus, the guys I know at UW constantly tell me how every player could be the best they've ever had there. And maybe I'm just using past Badger OL's to compare them against. They have dominant lines almost every year.

[Jenkins5]

We will have to see how it turns out. They have two really good freshman who they must be planning on redshirting. Logan Brown was arguably one of the top LTs in country. Tippman was pretty highly regarded as well. Bruss, Beach, Seltzner, and Lyles are all sophomores & not sure how dominant they will be. Lyles was most highly regarded. Biadasz is on different level, he is a first round talent. Van Lanen was a better LT than Deitzen and Deiter. Cormac Sampson is interesting one. They have played him at DE, TE, OT, back to TE due to injuries and back to OT. Athletic guy taking the Edwards route. Hopefully he does put on so much weight that he losses a step like Edwards did. The bigger he got, the worse he did.

[homer]

Article in The Athletic about Mertz and he seems to be totally on board with redshirting.

[tmwiese55]

UW has too many good QBs. who would've thought we'd ever say that haha. Obviously we're still only a few games in here for Coan and haven't seen Mertz play for real at all yet so it's still early to proclaim them both good but at least it's looking that way as of now. Plus all signs point to Wolf have a legit shot too.

 

I'd guess they all stick it out but it wouldn't surprise me if Wolf leaves after the year. He could see the writing on the wall that he'll get skipped over to Mertz. He's used his RS though so maybe he's a good student and can graduate early so he doesn't have to sit out.

[MrTPlush]

Coan/Mertz is an easy decision this year...next year if Coan has a good 2019, oof.

[PeaveyFury]

Coan/Mertz is an easy decision this year...next year if Coan has a good 2019, oof.

 

I think that a good year from Coan makes the 2020 decision a lot easier.

[MrTPlush]

Coan/Mertz is an easy decision this year...next year if Coan has a good 2019, oof.

 

I think that a good year from Coan makes the 2020 decision a lot easier.

 

I think it just makes it tough to put Mertz on the bench another year. All the hype he gets in Wisconsin that is a rough picture to paint.

[pacopete4]

Coan/Mertz is an easy decision this year...next year if Coan has a good 2019, oof.

 

I think that a good year from Coan makes the 2020 decision a lot easier.

 

I think it just makes it tough to put Mertz on the bench another year. All the hype he gets in Wisconsin that is a rough picture to paint.

 

Wouldn't shock me to see him go elsewhere if Coan has some good success this season. The kid is talented and someone will play him.

[MrTPlush]

Wouldn't shock me to see him go elsewhere if Coan has some good success this season. The kid is talented and someone will play him.

 

Maybe if Coan was a Soph....but he is a junior. I can't really see Mertz leaving to sit out a year and start somewhere else. Might as well sit behind Coan again and stay in the same system.

 

For some reason I don't see Coan being good enough to beat out Mertz next season. Partially because I don't see them bringing in a hyped up QB (best ever for WI) and then sitting him two years in a row. If he is even remotely close to Coan or better he probably will be the guy. If Coan is the starter again maybe Mertz is just overhyped?

[tmwiese55]

Generally I'd say we're putting a bit too much stock into recruiting rankings and folks at WI getting a bit too giddy since it's rare for us to have a guy ranked that high. Go back and look at top 5-10 type QB lists and how often they flame out. It's the biggest crap shoot in recruiting. For example, the guy that transferred to NW this year was the #1 QB when he came out, never got to play at Clemson then goes to NW and started the year behind a former walk on. Generally speaking you should not have a system that high school ranking determines who plays. The better guy should play.

 

I think it's also forgetting that Coan was very good recruit himself, in the top 10-15ish type rankings for QBs. This isn't at all like Horni and Stave being a nothing recruit and yet starting for 3-4 years.

 

If Mertz improves so much that he's just clearly superior and takes it, obviously that's a good thing. Similar to what happened with Lawrence at Clemson. But you should not have an attitude that "this guy was hyped so we owe to him to play".

 

It's also very early for Coan. Obviously as all have said, he sure has looked legit and all but we'll see for sure in the next 3 games. If he looks shaky and they lose 2/3, just personally plays badly, gets hurt, etc. Things can change really quickly and all of a sudden Mertz is playing.

 

Plush is right that logically it wouldn't make sense for Mertz to leave as he'd just have to sit elsewhere instead of here. QBs of course have never been logical with all the transfers, but all accounts this kid and his parents have great attitudes and heads on their shoulders. This all might have been a bit different had Coan sat the bowl game to keep the extra year. Still, this is all a bit early to speculate as we still don't know for sure if either is legit good. Let's sit back and enjoy that for once it seems we don't have "but if only they had a QB" thing going on like normal. Good problem to have if these scenarios we're throwing around happen.

 

Another example right in front of us was Bart Houston, legit high 4 star and our best QB recruit ever as well. Was never able to beat out Stave. After he did get to play I don't think anyone would say that was the wrong call. I would note that I thought he should have gotten a bit more leeway his senior year, but that's neither here nor there.

[Jenkins5]

Mertz Redshirts & gets garbage time behind Coan next year. That still gives him 3 years to be the guy & show scouts what he has. That is if Coan doesn’t pull a Hornibrook, not develop & regresses. It’s not like Wisconsin is OSU recruiting a 5 star QB every year. Mertz is the future.

 

It amazes me how frustrated fans get with young QBs at college & pro level for not starting right away. I’ve coached high school for over a decade & no matter how promising a kid looks as a freshman, he is better off playing down, learning, and developing. Eventually their talent will get them some time but there is value in preparing them. Stars mean nothing. You want to play early you need to prove everyday that you deserve it & are ready. Coan from Spring on got almost all the 1st team reps. It’s not because coaching staff just favored him. He proved it every day & didn’t allow for the talented Mertz or Wolff to cut into his snaps. If Mertz would want to transfer due to him as true freshman (don’t think is case at all....fan made issue) let him. Any guy who quits team because he is sore loser, doesn’t have a growth mindset, and feels he is above redshirting or sitting behind an upperclassman because he was a high school star is a guy I don’t want leading a team. He had his chance & will continue to have his chance to prove he should be out there.

 

All these QBs these days playing the transfer game is a joke to me. Product of spoiled/give me mentality from an instant gratification generation. Internet tells them that they are so great over and over so when they get on campus entering situation they already knew was there and lose battle.... they cry & want to run to somewhere that will give them job based on name. Not all recruits but plenty of these high end guys. Some of these “elite” guys can’t handle not being told how special they are at all times. Tate Marcell at Ohio St (now Miami) because he couldn’t beat out the guys they had or were bringing in. Fields (UG to OSU) who knew Fromm was a Star, went anyways... of course he lost battle, so he ran away. I think Fields is at least talented but he was arrogant thinking he could go to Georgia and start from day 1 and wasn’t happy Fromm is better.

 

I think Mertz is loyal & humble kid. He committed early, shutdown all those big schools like Bama. It sounds like he just assumes he will redshirt & has no problem with that. Don’t think he is one who will bail because he he wasn’t a freshman starter.

[HiAndTight]

Mertz Redshirts & gets garbage time behind Coan next year. That still gives him 3 years to be the guy & show scouts what he has. That is if Coan doesn’t pull a Hornibrook, not develop & regresses. It’s not like Wisconsin is OSU recruiting a 5 star QB every year. Mertz is the future.

 

It amazes me how frustrated fans get with young QBs at college & pro level for not starting right away. I’ve coached high school for over a decade & no matter how promising a kid looks as a freshman, he is better off playing down, learning, and developing. Eventually their talent will get them some time but there is value in preparing them. Stars mean nothing. You want to play early you need to prove everyday that you deserve it & are ready. Coan from Spring on got almost all the 1st team reps. It’s not because coaching staff just favored him. He proved it every day & didn’t allow for the talented Mertz or Wolff to cut into his snaps. If Mertz would want to transfer due to him as true freshman (don’t think is case at all....fan made issue) let him. Any guy who quits team because he is sore loser, doesn’t have a growth mindset, and feels he is above redshirting or sitting behind an upperclassman because he was a high school star is a guy I don’t want leading a team. He had his chance & will continue to have his chance to prove he should be out there.

All these QBs these days playing the transfer game is a joke to me. Product of spoiled/give me mentality from an instant gratification generation. Internet tells them that they are so great over and over so when they get on campus entering situation they already knew was there and lose battle.... they cry & want to run to somewhere that will give them job based on name. Not all recruits but plenty of these high end guys. Some of these “elite” guys can’t handle not being told how special they are at all times. Tate Marcell at Ohio St (now Miami) because he couldn’t beat out the guys they had or were bringing in. Fields (UG to OSU) who knew Fromm was a Star, went anyways... of course he lost battle, so he ran away. I think Fields is at least talented but he was arrogant thinking he could go to Georgia and start from day 1 and wasn’t happy Fromm is better.

 

I think Mertz is loyal & humble kid. He committed early, shutdown all those big schools like Bama. It sounds like he just assumes he will redshirt & has no problem with that. Don’t think he is one who will bail because he he wasn’t a freshman starter.

 

Well then you're not gonna want Graham Mertz to "lead your team." After he couldn't win the job as a Soph, he transferred to his rival school. Sore loser. And that's High School.

 

You really need to look around a bit closer at just how many kids have transferred.

 

This "kids today," thing. Doesn't it ever...get old. How old do you have to be for this to start to sound exactly like what you used to hear? First time I heard it, I was 2 years out of college and coaching and a kid in my class(so another kid who was 24-25) started in on how "kids today, they're not as tough as we are, they don't play through pain, put in the extra time." I couldn't help but laughing. I was there to watch a UW recruit. I'm sitting there watching these kids who were 8 years younger and it was no different. Nothing had changed about those kids in those 8 years. That has always stuck with me because the "kids today," joke has been going for a long time, but that was the first time I ever heard it and I remember exactly what I was doing and what kids I was watching.

 

Kids don't change. We get older and we forget about how Troy Aikman went to Oklahoma and they were changing their offense for this kid, this Freshmen phenom, but he didn't play enough as a Freshmen and then got hurt so he transferred. Or the dozens and dozens of guys who did transfer but it didn't make as much news or the dozens and dozens who didn't because the petty NCAA made it tougher than it needed to be.

 

 

Being a talented QB who transfers because you lose your job doesn't make you a "loser," or some mentally weak, spoiled kid who thinks he's entitled. It makes you SMART. Jalen Hurts could have spent the rest of his time at Alabama sitting behind Tua...or he could transfer to Oklahoma and become one of the top QB's in college and that change will probably make him millions. Spoiled kid! Looking ahead and seeing that there is a elite QB who's already entrenched...it doesn't make you a loser. You want a kid who'd rather beat his head against the wall or would you rather have a kid with common sense.

 

Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, the last two Heisman....they...transferred. I guess there was this Mahomes kid. Anyway, is Baker a loser? Kyler?

 

And as far as Fields, Kirby Smart; according to him, he had to be careful, because when you have an "alpha," like Jake(Fromm) you have to be careful how much playing time you're giving to "the next big thing." You don't want it to "mess with his head." So I just think it's funny how you chastise the kid who decides to go to an NFL factory where he'd play right away. Kirby SMART was alright with it, he understood. So I have to wonder why you're coming down so hard on them? I mean, he wasn't just a "good recruit," he was a great recruit, #2 only behind the best HS prospect 247 has ever scouted in Lawrence. But you talk about toughness and Fromm's own coach said he had to be careful to not play the uber talented Fields too much because he didn't want Fromm to get insecure about his spot in the lineup.

 

I'm sorry, I find this laughable. The way these coaches just absolutely bow down to these kids, they way they lie to them, how they recruit multiple players at the same position and promise all of them playing time, how they promise they're going to stick around and then they just jump up and leave when A&M comes with a bigger offer. But now we're now getting upset when they do what's obviously best for them and they transfer to a school where they can play right away? Clemson has Trevor Lawrence. So obviously the QB who led them to a 16-1 record in the games he started and finished with his lone loss coming to Alabama in the College Football Playoffs, and the former 5 star recruit are going to transfer. It's presumptuous of you to assume that they're somehow upset they weren't handed something rather than it just being basic common sense on their part that they, like Mayfield and Murray are behind transcendent talents and they're not going to win that job.

 

Coaches lie to kids, they tell them what they want to hear. That's how you get Fromm, Fields and Eason in the same QB room in a couple year period. Sometimes guys like Shea Peterson(the only QB ranked ahead of Eason in his class) just want a better fit so they transfer from Ole Miss to Michigan. And now, he's one of the top "young" starters in the country.

 

Coaches over-recruit, they over-promise, they leave whenever it's convenient to them after promising a kid they wouldn't, after promising the school they wouldn't, and they've been doing this for decades. But now when you have these kids using the transfer rules to put them in the best situations possible...it's because of "kids today?"

 

C'mon. And if "kids today," are so bad, then it's our/your fault. Whoever is the generation raising those kids that made them that way, right? But of course like all parents, it's never there kids. Of course the whole, "kids today," complaint is as old as time and "kids today," are probably more mature,more involved and active as the kids were 10 years ago, certainly ~20 years ago when I was in HS.

 

These kids are using the rules available to them to try to get themselves to the NFL and it's working out well for almost everyone. Why would you want a 5 star recruit who's clearly one of the best players in the country sitting at Georgia OR taking over the job from Fromm when he can just take advantage of the rules and play for Ohio State?

 

They're finally doing what the coaches who's been screwing with them for decades are doing. What's best for them.

 

I think Mertz is loyal & humble kid. He committed early, shutdown all those big schools like Bama. It sounds like he just assumes he will redshirt & has no problem with that. Don’t think he is one who will bail because he he wasn’t a freshman starter.

 

No he did not. He opened up his recruiting again. He went down to Georgia to WATCH the QB's you were just talking about in Fields and Fromm practice and he literally said that "of course I'm mindful of depth charts," ie, well, I like Georgia, but they've got a lot of studs. He took visits to Ohio State, Georgia, not sure if he took an official one to Clemson, but he talked about talking to Dabo and getting an offer from them.

 

He committed early because he had 3 offers, Wisconsin, a directional Alabama and I don't even know if one of the Kansas schools was in on him, but UW was by far the biggest school. He ended up sticking with UW, but he didn't just pick UW and then "shut down all those big schools." He let those big schools woe him. Do you not recall him meeting with Urban Meyer and everyone just waiting, assuming he was gonna leave?

 

Maybe we should all just take a step back and calm down on a kid that we don't really know. We don't need to anoint him the next great college QB and we don't need to put him up on this fictional pedestal above all the guys who couldn't compete with the starters in their respective programs like Jacob Fields, Kelly Bryants, Josh Jackson, Russ, Murray, Baker, Shea Patterson, hell, lets just go with half of the FBS programs starters and a quarter of their backups.

 

He was in High School last year. Just..leave him be without you our own opinions and expectations onto him. He's a student-athlete. It's hard enough for these kids.

[HiAndTight]

Wouldn't shock me to see him go elsewhere if Coan has some good success this season. The kid is talented and someone will play him.

 

Maybe if Coan was a Soph....but he is a junior. I can't really see Mertz leaving to sit out a year and start somewhere else. Might as well sit behind Coan again and stay in the same system.

 

For some reason I don't see Coan being good enough to beat out Mertz next season. Partially because I don't see them bringing in a hyped up QB (best ever for WI) and then sitting him two years in a row. If he is even remotely close to Coan or better he probably will be the guy. If Coan is the starter again maybe Mertz is just overhyped?

 

 

Well, if Mertz is really that much more talented than Coan physically, then spending a year getting used to the speed of the college game, he should have a lot more room to grow.

 

 

It'd shock me to see him leave if Coan's good this year. You're saying he'd leave before they even had a competition. And he wouldn't gain anything.

[young guns]

The TE room will be much better when Neuville is back. He's a monster run blocker at the very least, and he'll be a huge asset in the run game.

So much for that thought. Another injury ends his career.

https://247sports.com/college/wisconsin/Article/Zander-Neuville-sustains-career-ending-injury-Wisconsin-Badgers-football-135480005/

[PeaveyFury]

Yeah, that's incredibly disappointing. He would have helped that young o-line a lot with his blocking.

[Mr Southpaw]

Time to make one of the young tackles into a tight end like we did with Bruss last year. Slap an "80" number on whoever has the best hands.

[Mr Southpaw]

Time to make one of the young tackles into a tight end like we did with Bruss last year. Slap an "80" number on whoever has the best hands.

 

Maybe another idea would be to switch over Tyler Johnson to TE. He was a high school quarterback who won a state championship. He has got to have good hands. OLB seems to be covered quite well.