One of the biggest questions this offseason has been what the Wisconsin Badgers will look like on the defensive front seven. Perhaps the biggest unanswered questions this spring was where the pass rush was going to come from this season, especially since it was nearly non-existent last season.
UW’s defense ranked sixth in the Big Ten in sacks (26) and 59th overall nationally. While those are decent numbers, all but eight of those 26 sacks came from players still on the Badgers’ roster. It means that someone has to step to the plate — and it appears head coach Gary Andersen knows exactly who he wants to see do just that.
Enter redshirt sophomore Vince Biegel and little used redshirt junior Jesse Hayes. The duo has combined to play in 15 games in their careers, all of which come from Biegel who saw time in all 13 games last season and two before redshirting in 2012.
At Big Ten media day on Monday, he also laid down the gauntlet to the two pass-rushing linebackers in a very public manner. Consider it a personal challenge.
“There’s big challenges going out to some kids, and I think as you’re in a program for a year and as the head coach you need to let kids understand where they sit—and Jesse needs to be the player,” Andersen said. ‘It is his time, just as it is Vince Biegel’s time and Rob Wheelwright’s.”
Clearly Andersen sees something in Hayes that we haven’t seen on game day or on the practice field before.
What does Hayes need to do to become a performer on game day for the Badgers? For Andersen it’s about putting the talent together with a strong work ethic.
“Jesse Hayes is, again, as you grow and you develop when you leave the building, how important is it to you? That’s where we are,” said Andersen. “Because he’s talented and he can run and he can take care of his business. I really like what he does. But, he’s got to have the ability to walk in and be consistent in front of his teammates and make the plays he needs to be able to make in practice consistently for us to say, not as a group of coaches, but as a football family — ‘yep, this kid is ready to go and he’s going to bust his tail for us.'”
“But Vince and Jesse, at that B-backer position is going to be very important for us.”
While that may not be a lot to hang your hat on, Andersen should have a pretty good idea of what he’s talking about, considering his added role as outside linebackers coach.
In fact, he admitted talking those two players up, but he expects that group to perform well. Andersen also stated that the Badgers need that group to be productive for them to be a good football team.
Wisconsin’s ability to contend on the conference and national level could ultimately come down to the ability of these two players to step up to the plate.
To that end, the Badgers will approach the opening of fall camp in a very different way in 2014. UW will go with two separate practices with the team split 50/50 on the numbers side of things. According to Andersen, it is all about getting the younger players more reps and seeing who can and will step up.
Considering the need and lack of overall experience between Biegel and Hayes, getting them more reps can only help produced the desired results.
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