This Week in Badgers: Leonhard and the Secondary
This Week in Badgers: Season 1, Episode 30
Welcome to This Week in Badgers where we cover the bits and pieces of Badger news that exist and go long on Jim Leonhard and the CBs. We also fit in a Bette Midler tribute and I inform you of Hugs Etienne's height. To think some questioned if I'd have enough material to keep this going in the off-season.
Houskeeping
Art
News
The only actual news from the past week was James Williams stepping away from the team after 3 knee surgeries. The dates on his Tweet get a little wonky but either way it doesn't sound good. I assume the Badgers will go the Medical Non-Counter route for him so he can finish school if he chooses or head elsewhere if he feels healthy enough to play down the road.
With his departure, I’ve got the Badgers projected at 87 Scholarships at the moment.
Badgers in the NFL!
Nothing puts me to sleep faster than updates about former Badgers in the NFL, the NFL Draft, XFL, Indoor leagues, hosting SNL or whatever else they have going on. I obviously love these guys when they’re Badgers but don't really care what they do after they leave Wisconsin. I’m not claiming moral superiority with this, I follow RECRUITING for goodness sake. I just don’t have any interest in NFL guys unless they play for the Packers or my Fantasy Team.
Since I started doing the newsletter and with that, more actively looking for topics/news, I get why people who are paid in internet traffic constantly update us on it. The off-season is rough.
This was a long preamble to justify what I’m about to say and the biggest news of the week: Darius Hillary had 9 tackles in an XFL game.
Signing Day
Zero drama to this one, thankfully. Jalen Berger is good to go and they also closed out their walk-on class. AllBadgers has a good summary of the walk-ons.
I have a walk-on take! This one feels more targeted than some years. There are no in-state RBs, QBs or WRs that are obviously going to have to move to a different position. McKinley and Van Dyke could be Scholarship specialists down the line, Timmis and Kodanko are top instate OLs and Gengler and Nowakowski seem like they have the size to compete for two deep spots down the road. Less guessing and projection than some classes.
Some links:
Temple went long on walk-on QB Daniel Wright. Always enjoy the behind the scenes quotes on how it came together on both sides. As mentioned last week, this guy can sling it. I’m on board.
Mildly interesting Badgers stat vs top 25.
This is actually a former Badger update I do care about, Montee Ball seems to be doing well. I got a tip a while ago that he’s at a lot of Farmer’s Markets and those types of things selling CBD stuff, and appears to be what he’s up to these days. Good for him.
Not really Badger related, but Florida State/LSU announced an series against each other to some complaints about it being off-campus. I wonder as the novelty of the neutral games has started to wear off and we get more complaints, if it trends back to more home and homes, like Wisconsin and Alabama are doing in a few years. One can hope.
I used to hate this Heilprin bit, but I've come around to embracing it. It also really makes Rich at the Buck Around angry. Zach, thank you and please keep it up.
We should talk about Bret Bielema and the Michigan State job.
Obviously the relationship between Badger fans and Bielema is “strained” to put it mildly and the reaction to him possibly being in the mix for the Michigan St job has been interesting to watch unfold.
My feelings towards Bielema? Glad you asked. In retrospect it seems like his departure worked out pretty well for Wisconsin so I have a hard time being bitter about it. He was a great transition post-Alvarez and much needed young blood to help revitalize the program that, despite some good QB play, started to slip in the early 2000s. I get the sense that he gets dinged a bit among the fanbase for a perceived coasting on what Alvarez set up, which ignores the early 2000s issues and how hard it is to follow a legend and the expectations that come with it, something Greg Gard is dealing with on the hoops side.
Leaving before the Rose Bowl was pretty shitty and the #karma thing was annoying, but he fell flat on his face in Arkansas and the Badgers have been humming since he left. It all worked out for the best.
All that out of the way, surely Michigan State can aim higher than this. They’re comfortably in the Iowa-Wisconsin range of Big Ten jobs and will pay what is needed to get someone good. For a cold weather location, Michigan is a pretty good state to recruit even if getting Ohio State/Michigan leftovers. The state had 30 Power 5 recruits in 2020 alone. Sparty also doesn’t seem to have any hangup with academic restrictions that limit the recruiting pool.
Luke Fickell was an obvious play, but the backup is a guy who bombed out of the SEC and was good at Wisconsin 8 years ago? I don't get it.
Bielema has clearly been hiding in the NFL, not taking any job that might expose him to doubters. He knows he has one more shot at a good college job and it is a much better strategy to hang in the NFL and have people leak to the press how great you are instead of publicly falling flat as a College Coordinator or MAC coach.
All this to say, of COURSE he is going to be interested in the Michigan State job, I don’t at all get the appeal on the Michigan State side.
Enjoyed Badgers Twitter giving us their top 10 offensive plays
Cephus TD vs Minnesota
Coan TD run vs Michigan
Taylor 44 yard TD run vs Ohio State
Cephus TD vs Ohio State
AJ Taylor TD vs Nebraska
Taylor long TD vs Michigan
Coan keeper TD vs Ohio St
Pryor 66 yard run vs Sparty
Taylor TD catch before halftime against South Florida
Davis TD sweep against Iowa.
Good list! I actually don’t have any strong objections. The 1st half against Ohio State is weighed pretty heavily, but hard to argue it shouldn't be.
Few that didn’t make this list I’d consider:
52 yard pass to Cephus against Iowa LINK
Groshek Screen 70 yards LINK. This one was robbed and I’d find a way to get it in the top 5.
Taylor screen against South Florida LINK
Remembering David Wings, and a shout out to father of 2020 recruit Jack Nelson
Let’s Remember Some Guys
Today’s guy is David Wings, ILB from 1985-1988. Wings set records with 24 tackles in a 1987 game against Iowa and had 249 tackles total as a starter in 1987 and 1988. Team Defensive MVP in 1987 and Team MVP and Captain in 1988.
Brief aside on tackling statistics...
Only two players post 2000 show up on the top 20 list of most tackles in a season, Borland in 2011 and Nick Greisen in 2000 and 2001. Teams are passing more so not everything is going at the MLB but they’re also playing more games. My assumption is replay has made it possible to easily identify the tackler instead of crediting everyone who comes off the pile. Tackling records from the 70s and 80s are like MLB HRs in the 1990s, completely out of whack with all stats before and after.
Back to Wings, I'm sure you're wondering if the song “Wind Beneath My Wings” affected him at all. The Lou Rawls version came out in 1984 and had some modest airplay, but probably not enough to make a dent in the life of a college kid later in the decade. The more popular Bette Midler version was released in February of 1989, mere months after David Wings’ college football career ended. I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing. I’d imagine it’d be cool if the band played that song after a big play, but also imagine the novelty would wear off when it came on the jukebox every time he walked into Brats.
David Wings, remembered.
Let’s talk Cornerbacks
We’ll start off with a note from Rich
The position I’m really fascinated with right now is defensive back, specifically corner. I have a simple way to judge this and I’m curious if you buy into this thinking: I suspect Sojourn Shelton is likely the 3rd-4th CB in the rotation in the current group if he were on the team today.
The team seems to have moved away from the undersized-but-very-technical corner to looking for guys with size and speed that they can coach up. I don’t know if that’s “better” than what they did in the past but it definitely feels like a strategy to get better athletes on the field
Before we get started, I’d strongly push back against the Shelton slander, Mr. Branch. First team All-Big 10 in 2016! I like Faion Hicks, but Junior/Senior year Shelton starts over him every day.
The larger question is interesting and I’m endlessly fascinated with CB recruiting. As we discussed last week, Wisconsin isn’t known for the CBs and its much different to recruit compared to other positions, mostly because its almost always out of state guys. In the past 30 years the Badgers have had THREE scholarship in-state, CB recruits (BJ Tucker, Antonio Freeman, Jack Ikegwuonu). Only QB relies that much on out of state guys, and obviously you need far fewer numbers there.
A hallmark of modern day Badger football is player development and Cornerbacks are challenging because there usually isn't much physical development to be had. While an OL recruit may come in at 250 lbs and leave at 325, a CB recruit is usually pretty close to the same size as a Senior as they were as a Freshman.
Since its a position they have to go out of state for and doesn’t have a lot of physical projection, it becomes very dependent on talent evaluation and recruiting. With Rich’s email in mind, I wanted to take a look and see if there were any trends between coaching staffs in what type of size they look for and where those guys are coming from.
First let’s just do a quick rundown of CB recruiting the past 15 years:
Bielema:
Sojourn Shelton (FL): 5'9"
Hugs Etienne (FL): 5'11"
Darius Hillary (OH): 5'11"
Devin Gaulden (FL): 5'10"
Terrance Floyd (FL): 5'10"
Peniel Jean (FL): 5'11"
Marcus Cromartie (TX): 6’1”
Devin Smith (TX): 5’11”
Antonio Fenelus (FL): 5’9”
Mario Goins (TX): 6’0”
Otis Merrill (OH) 5’11”
Recruited as CB but moved positions: Reggie Mitchell, Aaron Henry, Kim Royston, Jay Valai
Andersen:
Titus Booker (IL): 5'11" (flip from Indiana)
Derrick Tindal (FL): 5'11" (flip from Indiana)
TJ Reynard: 5'10" (Juco)
Jakarrie Washington (MA): 5'9"
Chryst, pre-Leonhard
DCW (FL): 5'11" (flip from Cincy)
Deron Harrell (CO): 6'2" started at WR and position changed over
Madison Cone (NC): 5'9" committed 3 months after Leonhard took DB job
Caesar Williams (TX): 6' Committed right before Leonhard took job
Leonhard:
Max Lofy (CO): 5’11”
Travian Blaylock (TX): 5'11"
James Williams (FL): 5'10"
Semar Melvin (FL) 5'11"
Donte Burton (GA): 5'10"
Alexander Smith (CA): 5'11"
Dean Engram (MD): 5'9"
Rachad Wildgoose (FL): 5'11"
Faion Hicks (FL): 5'10"
*I pulled the heights off the official rosters on Badgers website. I realize they're all inflated but its as close as we'll get to being on the same scale at least.
As with anything recruiting wise, Andersen is an outlier here. His entire recruiting strategy was to "go big" at 4/5 star guys and when they inevitably passed on Wisconsin, work to flip the best guys he could late in the cycle. There didn’t seem to be a real philosophy outside of getting the highest rated guy, which led to waiting out a lot of guys and going last minute. Tindal was a great flip, but Andersen didn’t have much success outside that with CBs.
On paper Leonhard and Bielema's groups seem to have a lot in common. Geography is about the same as both hit Florida hard and filled in from across the country. They almost exclusively went for the 5'10" or 5'11" guys, but did make exceptions. Bielema’s exceptions turned out to be really good as Fenelus and Shelton were both All Conference. We’ll see what the future holds for Dean Engram, but Leonhard seems to be following a similar path to Bielema in terms of size.
One other thing that jumps out is almost all of Leonhard’s guys have been some sort of contributor. Hicks, Wildgoose, Smith, Burton and Melvin all played last year and its too early to write off Engram or Blaylock.
Bielema had a bunch of guys that went nowhere as Badgers. Etienne, Floyd, Goins and Merrill never got off the ground, and the CB cupboard was pretty bare in the late Bielema/early Andersen years.
Today they most assuredly have more depth at CB than they had under previous coaches. Bielema famously said losing Devin Smith cost them a National Championship in 2011, which yeah, lol, but it did affect them at least somewhat while the 2020 team could lose a couple guys and probably be fine.
I have 3 theories on the differences:
Bloodlines
This one is pretty half-baked, but Blaylock, Burton and Engram all have parents who played NFL or high level college football. Using that to guess on athleticism projections? Like I said, half-baked.
Leonhard’s Own Experience
He prefers the “underdog” types at Safety. That’s why Colin Wilder, Leo Musso, Joe Ferguson and other guys like that get chances at Safety over position switching a CB. This theory is highly unsatisfying and also makes Jim Leonhard seem crazy. Probably not true.
Ok, so I actually really only have 1 theory and that theory may or may not have any value. If you have anything, send it over.
Separation of Safety and CBs.
Looking at the data I get the sense that under Bielema they saw Safety and Corner as somewhat interchangeable. Henry, Valai, Royston and even later Reggie Mitchell and Keelon Brookins were CBs on signing day but moved off the position when they got to Wisconsin. They took more chances on guys knowing their defense was interchangeable enough to try people elsewhere if CB didn't work out.
Under Leonhard the Safety position seems very different than Corner. Dixon, Pearson, Burrell, Wilder, Nelson and whoever else is back there seem to be less about speed and coverage and more about willingness to tackle and help out with the run.
Therefore, in this theory, Leonhard has stricter standards for speed/athleticism for CB recruits and doesn't recruit CBs with an eye on safety like Bielema might have done. Hence, they go 8 deep at CB and will use walk-ons at safety.
I like this theory the best.
They lack the star power, but I can’t remember a time they have this many experienced and capable guys in the secondary. I’m very fascinated to see what Leonhard does with it this spring and summer. Will there be any reevaluation of Nickel/Dime roles? More or less rotations? Moving some guys to Safety? Its a fun problem to have.
With that we're done for the week! Thanks for sticking with me during the off-season, as always any topics or ideas you want to explore shoot over a message. Go Badgers.