Wisconsin is less than two weeks away from opening up camp and on Thursday head coach Bret Bielema took to the podium to kick-off the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, IL. What he spoke of may have surprised a few people, as he talked about the brotherhood in the Big Ten coaching ranks.
“I think one of the things that I’ve loved and appreciated about being in this conference is there is a genuine respect for everybody in our league that you are a Big Ten brother and you’re a guy that sits in our conference meeting rooms,” Bielema said during his press conference at the Big Ten Media Days.
With the transitions going on all over the conference over the past few years, it’s also safe to say that Bielema is taking on a new role within the coaching ranks in the conference as he’s the 2nd longest tenured coach and is attempting to show the way to the newer faces of the conference coaching fraternity.
He spoke of that brotherhood while asserting the Badgers have no plans of recruiting or taking on any of Penn State’s players.
“Obviously a very unprecedented situation,” said Bielema of the Penn State sanctions by the NCAA. “Of course when you’re sitting at the head table of your staff room and assistant coaches have a lot of different opinions, I made the decision as a head coach we would not reach out to any Penn State players.”
A few coaches echoed those sentiments, and others, most notably Illinios’ Tim Beckman, were open to taking on Penn State players. Something Bielema was quick to point out he wouldn’t be judging.
“I’m not casting doubt on anybody or questioning anything, but we made a decision that we would not actively pursue any Penn State players.”
Continuing to shed light on the recruiting trail Bielema was asked a bit about the issue that took place on National Signing Day, you know the one where a certain coach’s tactics were in question. In his response on Thursday he sang a bit of a different tune than in previous press conferences.
“I think the great thing is if you look back during my tenure, seven years as a football coach, we’ve had several players that are committed and in our program now that were committed at other schools,” he said.
“So we never refrain from recruiting players that are committed to other places if they want to be recruited. I hope that would never change.”
He continued, saying “coaches are able to kind of just let things happen as they are and realize that every kid is in charge of his own mission to get to where he wants to be.”
Believe it or not recruiting and Penn State weren’t the only topics Bielema addressed in front of the gathered throngs of media on Thursday. He even managed to talk about his 2012 Badgers.
As we reported earlier in the week, potential starting offensive lineman Casey Dehn won’t be back and that leaves some questions to be answered on the right side of the offensive line.
“The great thing is, at the University of Wisconsin, we’ve probably been able to play offensive line at the highest level possible in the world of college football,” said Bielema. “We have guys in our program right now who have never started a game that I believe can play at that level, and we’ll just have an opportunity now to put people in place.”
Despite the talent Bielema does see a few challenges in putting together the offensive line. “It will be a huge challenge for us,” he said. “I think, to find the five right guys, whether they’re tackles that can play guards or guards that can play tackle.”
As for the man those five will be protecting, Danny O’Brien? Well, it appears things have gone swimmingly in his transition from Maryland to Wisconsin according to Bielema.
“He fit into our program great,” Bielema said about O’Brien. “Just the way he kind of bonded during the recruiting visit was special to see.”
“I really can’t be involved in summer workouts, but I know just bumping into Danny and bumping into players that have been around this summer that everybody’s been excited about him coming through.”
He also hinted a bit of a surprise in the assumed Quarterback challenge to O’Brien. “I think the real upside to Danny’s situation is we’ve also had the emergence of Curt Phillips come back after his third ACL surgery, and those two have got a nice little competition and probably again with Joel Stave.”
Coming out of Media Days there’s not question that the Badgers face some unanswered questions with their roster, but it’s also clear that Bielema sees a deep team that may make up for things they lack in experience with talent.
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