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Wisconsin adds one to football recruiting class

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Wisconsin wrapped up the 2018 early signing period in December with 19 scholarship players in the fold.  The Badgers added to that class on Wednesday by receiving a letter of intent from Miami defensive back Rachad Wildgoose.

Wildgoose had decommitted from Georgia last month, paid a visit to the Madison campus last weekend and then picked the Badgers over Central Florida and North Carolina State.

Wildgoose had more than dozen offers, including Alabama, Auburn, Nebraska, Maryland, Ole Miss and Purdue.

Badgers hire linebackers coach

Badger coach Paul Chryst finalized his coaching staff by announcing the hire of Bobby April III as the team’s outside linebackers coach.

April III joins the UW staff after spending six seasons in the NFL.  He was the linebackers coach with the Buffalo Bills in 2015 and 2016 and is the son of longtime coach Bobby April Jr., a two-time NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year.

Chryst finishes 7th in AP Coach of the Year voting

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Paul Chryst

Scott Frost is the Associated Press Coach of the Year after leading Central Florida to an unbeaten season and a spot in the Peach Bowl.

Frost, who has been named the new coach at Nebraska, will finish the season with the 10th ranked Knights, who will face number-7 Auburn in the Peach Bowl.

Frost received 21 first-place votes, finishing in front of Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.

Wisconsin Badger head coach Paul Chryst finished 7th in the balloting after leading the Badgers to a 12-1 record.  The Badgers will face Miami in the December 30th Orange Bowl game in Miami.

Chryst named Big Ten Coach of the Year

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Paul Chryst

Last season, Wisconsin Badger coach Paul Chryst shared Big Ten Coach of the Year honors with Penn State’s James Franklin.  After leading the Badgers to a 12-0 record this season, Chryst was voted unanimously as the Coach of the Year by the coaches and media.

Chryst is the first back-to-back winner since Northwestern’s Gary Barnett captured consecutive honors in 1995 and 1996.  His Badgers will face Ohio State in the Big Ten title game on Saturday night (7:17 p.m.) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Tight end Troy Fumagalli was named the Kwalick-Clark tight end of the year.  The former walk-on leads Wisconsin in receptions with 38 and is second in receiving yards (471) and is tied for second in touchdown catches with four.

Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor was named the league’s freshman of the year after capturing Freshmen of the Week honors a record eight times during the regular season.

Taylor led the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 150.5 yards a game.  He averaged 7.0 yards per carry and scored 13 touchdowns.

Penn State’s Saquon Barkley was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.  Iowa’s Josey Jewell was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Badgers head to Big Ten title game unbeaten

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Paul Chryst

The Wisconsin Badgers are 12-0 for the first time in school history, following Saturday’s 31-0 shutout win over the Minnesota Gophers in Minneapolis.  The win is the 14th straight for the Badgers in the series and keeps Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Madison for at least another season.

Paul Chryst improved to 22-4 in Big Ten play and 33-6 overall at Wisconsin (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten).

Wisconsin’s win, along with a pair of losses from No. 1 Alabama on Saturday and No. 2 Miami on Friday, should propel the Badgers into the top four when the College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday night.  Wisconsin was fifth in the rankings going into Saturday’s win against Minnesota.

The Badgers will most likely secure a bid in the four-team College Football Playoffs if they knock off Ohio State in this Saturday’s Big Ten title game in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes (10-2, 8-1) knocked off Michigan 31-20 this past weekend.

The Gophers finished 2-7 in the Big Ten and 5-7 overall in P.J. Fleck’s first season.

The Badger defense posted its first shutout since a 37-0 win over Rutgers on Nov. 1, 2014.  The Gophers didn’t even pick up a first down until 41 seconds left in the first half.

The Gophers finished with just 133 total yards on 48 plays, an average of 2.8 yards per play.

Alex Hornibrook finished 15 of 19 for 151 yards and three touchdowns in the victory, while freshman running back Jonathan Taylor finished with 20 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown, giving him 1,806 yards rushing for the season.  That’s third all time for FBS freshmen.  Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne finished with 1,863 yards and Adrian Peterson finished with 1,925 yards in his first season.

Wisconsin improved its record against Minnesota to 60-59-8, taking the lead in the team’s all-time series for the first time in the history of a rivalry that dates to 1890.

 

Badgers not focused on rankings

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Paul Chryst

The first College Football Playoff rankings will be announced tonight (6 p.m. – ESPN) and the Wisconsin Badgers aren’t spending a whole lot of time worrying about where they stack up.  In fact, they’re not spending any time at all.

The Badgers (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) are ranked No. 4 in both the Associated Press top 25 poll and the Amway coaches poll and will face the Indiana Hoosiers (3-5, 0-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday in Bloomington.

“The only thing that really matters,” head coach Paul Chryst said, “and that you try to influence is: ‘How can we make the most of the moments that we’re in? And how can we continue to get better as a football team?’ “And that takes a ton of energy. That is where I thin all of our focus needs to go.”

Chryst’s players all echo their coaches thoughts.  They say they’re not interested and won’t watch the show tonight or any other night.

Left tackle Michael Deiter said the only time he would be interested in watching is after the Big Ten Championship.  Until that point, they need to control what they can control and that is the matchup against their weekly opponent.

The Badgers haven’t faced a ranked team yet this season and that usually doesn’t bode well when it comes to the National Playoff rankings.

But instead of losing sleep over it, the players are focused on winning each game each week.  The Badgers are now the only unbeaten team in the Big Ten and they’re hoping it stays that way following Saturday’s game at Indiana.

Coan to start the season as Badgers No. 2

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Jack Coan

Freshman Jack Coan will start the season next week as the Wisconsin Badgers No. 2 quarterback, backing up redshirt sophomore starter Alex Hornibrook.  He beat out Kare Lyles for the job.

Wisconsin Coach Paul Chryst confirmed Coan’s position on ESPN Madison’s “In the Trenches” radio show.

The Sayville, New York native was an early enrollee at UW.  He took part in spring practice and opened training camp comfortable and confident.

In high school, Coan passed for 9.787 yards and 128 touchdowns.  He rushed for 2,551 yards and 33 touchdowns in four seasons.

Chryst said he expects five or six freshmen to play for the Badgers this season.

The Badgers open their season Friday, Sept. 1 against Utah State at Camp Randall Stadium.

Cichy lost for the entire 2017 season

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Jack Cichy (Photo by David Stluka).

Wisconsin senior inside linebacker Jack Cichy will miss the 2017 season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in practice on Tuesday.

“You hate it for Jack,” head coach Paul Chryst said.  “You only get so many chances to play this game and you never want to see a guy miss any of those opportunities.  He’s one of the leaders of our team and I know he’ll be a big part of what we do moving forward this season.”

Cichy is schedule to have surgery on Friday.

The Somerset, Wisconsin, native earned All-Big Ten honorable mention last season despite missing the Badgers’ final seven games due to injury.  In his seven starts, Cichy recorded 60 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

The former walk-on was voted a team captain for the 2017 season.  He also was placed on watch lists for the Bednarik Award, Butkus Award, Nagurski Trophy and Lott IMPACT Trophy this preseason.

Badgers cancel open practice in Milwaukee

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With storms in the forecast for Thursday afternoon in the Milwaukee area, the Wisconsin football tam was forced to change its plans and cancel its scheduled open practice that was to be held at Custer Stadium in Milwaukee.

“It’s disappointing that we’re unable to go to Milwaukee,” head coach Paul Chryst said.  “I know there was a lot of planning that took place and I’d like to thank Bill Molbeck of Milwaukee Public Schools for all his help.  Our hope is to be able to visit at some point in the future.”

Unfortunately, the logistics of moving a large number of people and the equipment needed to hold practice made it necessary to make a decision on Wednesday.  After checking various weather forecasts throughout the day (Wednesday), including contacting meteorologists in the Milwaukee area, the forecasts did not improve.

 

Defense claims victory in Badgers’ spring game

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The White (defense) edged the Cardinal (offense), 20-17, in Wisconsin’s annual spring game on Friday night at Camp Randall.

Linebacker Griffin Grady led the defense with nine tackles and cornerback Ceasar Williams added an interception.

Three different Badgers, Garret Rand, Isaiahh Loudermilk and David Pfaff, recorded sacks.

Offensively, quarterback Jack Coan went 10 of 17 for 121 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinal.  Kare Lyles went 2 of 6 for 16 yards.  The Cardinals lone touchdown came in the closing seconds as Coan found tight end Zander Neuville in the end zone on a 8-yard pass.  Kyle Penniston led the Badgers with three a catches for 33 yards.

Kicker Rafael Gaglianone returned to action after missing a large portion of last season with injury.  He converted 2 of 3 field goal attempts, connecting twice from 42 yards out. [Read more…]

Badgers cap off spring ball tonight at Camp Randall (AUDIO)

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Alex Hornibrook

The Wisconsin Badgers cap off spring workouts with their annual spring game tonight (6:30 p.m.) at Camp Randall Stadium.

The Badgers have been able to build depth all over their roster with several starters were either limited or held out while recovering from off-season surgery.

But everyone loves to focus on the quarterback position.  Alex Hornibrook started all nine Big Ten games as a redshirt freshman in 2016.  He battled Bart Houston into the final week before the start of the season last year before finally winning the job.

All of that experience has landed Hornibrook the job for this season.  The position was handed to him during offseason workouts.

The big question at quarterback is who backs up Hornibrook? [Read more…]