The Wisconsin Badgers and first-year head coach Paul Chryst will open the season less than a month from now against 3rd-ranked Alabama, but the Badgers still aren’t sure who their five starters will be on the offensive line.
The only locks are returning starters Tyler Marz at left tackle and Dan Voltz at center, barring injury of course.
New offensive line coach Joe Rudolph must decide who the other three lineman will be.
The Badgers lost starters Rob Havenstein (42 starts), left guard Kyle Costigan and guard Dallas Lewallen, all fifth year seniors.
“Right now, today, I couldn’t tell you who the starting five are,” Chryst said. “I think that (in) spring ball, we were able to identify the pool of who the offensive linemen could be.
“But we didn’t solidify who the starting five were, and that’s going to be one of the things that we’ve got to solidify in fall camp.”
Besides Marz and Voltz, the Badgers had Ray Ball (left guard), Michael Deiter (right guard) and Hayden Biegel (right tackle) working with the one’s. Redshirt freshman Beau Benzschawel and freshman guard Jon Dietzen are both pushing for starting jobs.
AUDIO: Paul Chryst on the offensive line :17
T.J. Watt
Tight end T.J. Watt hasn’t seen the playing field at Wisconsin yet because of injuries to both knees. Those knees are finally healthy and the 6’5, 247 pound Watt is making the switch to outside linebacker.
Badgers end veteran linebacker
Kellen Jones is a graduate from Clemson. The 6’0, 230 pound linebacker was added to the roster on Sunday. At the very least, he’ll add some depth at the position.