Wisconsin is into the heat of spring ball and they apparently are finding out that depth at Safety is a major concern despite what has been some good play from Reggie Mitchell, who made a switch form corner to safety this offseason. Those depth concerns have led the Badgers to move two long time offensive players to safety in the hopes of making that position better, according to Badger Blitz.
Those two players? Now former running back Kyle Zuleger and now former wide receiver Isaiah Williams. Zuleger is doing the most selfless thing possible for this team in his final season of eligibility at UW, while Williams makes the move with two years of eligibility left.
Both have been special teams players for most of their careers at Wisconsin, with Zuleger making 24 tackles and Williams making 1 (back in 2011) for their careers.
One has to think that this staff isn't exactly in love with the likes of Michael Caputo or Michael Trotter as good options for the system they are putting in place. Sure, depth isn't great at the Safety position to begin with, but the clue comes from the fact that the report from BadgerBlitz.com notes that Zuleger suited up with the No. 2 defense at Monday's practice.
The article also has an interesting quote from defensive coordinator Dave Aranda as to what advantages this change has for the players and the defense:
"When they turn the corner with it, the plusses there are even bigger because they have a feel for what the offense is doing," Aranda said. "There's an understanding there that a lot of defense-only guys don't have. But they've got to get to a point where they feel comfortable with the initial alignments and assignments and techniques that they've got to execute."
Of course a lot of this will change when JUCO transfer Donnell Vercher comes into play, but when opportunity knocks you've got to kick the door all the way open and this could be one of the under the radar situations to watch for the rest of spring.
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