(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
We’re now just two Saturday’s from the annual Spring Football game and today was the first live scrimmage of the spring camp, providing coaches, players, and the media their first glimpse of what this team looks like in real football situations. So, it’s time to take a look at who stood out and some other notes from the scrimmage.
Badgers head coach Bret Bielema began his post-scrimmage press conference by praising the play of the two healthy running backs in camp, James White and Melvin Gordon. “James and Melvin took big steps forward today,” said Bielema.
According to reports both broke off long runs for touchdowns in the scrimmage, but that was about the only highlight for the offense. Everything we’ve seen reported from the scrimmage indicated that the quarterbacks struggled (and that might be putting it mildly) to find their form as the defense played quite well, but more on that later. Let’s take a look at what players Bielema singled out today.
Defensively the one guy that’s been a stand out head and shoulders above anyone else has been linebacker A.J. Fenton. He’s done so well that he’s actually running with the starting unit, beating out Connor O’Neil at the SAM positon.
“A.J.’s probably had about as good a two weeks as I’ve ever had,” said Bielema. “He’s just really playing well, using his hands. He’s probably our fastest linebacker.”
Other players that Bielema highlighted on the defensive side of the ball:
Hugs Etienne “Hugs is a competitor,” said Bielema. “[He’s] a very, very gifted athlete. He likes to mix it up.”
He also mentioned Darius Hillary, saying “Outsanding three weeks. Great coaching, he listens to everything you say and tries to do everything you ask of him.”
Other players that Bielema highlighted on the offensive side of the ball:
Sam Arneson, the 255lb tight end has been a standout so far this camp according to Bielema and he caught a touchdown pass during the red-zone portion of the scrimmage today.
“He Did a nice job in the off-season,” Bielema said of Arneson. “You can really see it in his blocking as he’s holding his own against defensive ends. I’m really excited about his future.” He also mentioned that he could be a matchup nightmare for linebackers because of his size and athletic ability.
He also mentioned Kyle Costigan and Casey Dehn on the offensive line, but more on that in a bit as well.
Danny O’Brien was out at practice as was his former Maryland teammate Max Garcia who was on an official visit to the school and could really help with the depth issues along the offensive line should he become a Badger.
Since we weren’t able to be there in person for the scrimmage check out the report that Tom Mulhern of the Wisconsin State Journal produced, it shows just how bad the quarterback situation may be if not for Danny O’Brien as well as a good highlight of the praise for Costigan and Dehn’s situations and more. You may also want to check out what Jeff Potrykus of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had to say.
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