Wisconsin Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up

Spring Takeaway

The biggest takeaway from the UW spring as a whole was that you really couldn’t take much away from spring to begin with. Not because things were bad, but because there were so many injuries (major and minor) that it’s hard to really gauge what this team could look like come Aug. 31st.

Having said that what most fans will be talking about well into the fall is the QB position and on Saturday we likely saw Joel Stave separate himself as a true challenger alongside incoming JUCO recruit Tanner McEvoy. That’s about the only real question that was answered.

A few unknown players who could have breakout seasons

One of the biggest things that stood out on Saturday in Camp Randall is that this defense is going to be good – like scary good. Why? Try having two players who are likely to not be starters this fall shine.

You’ll want to know the names Sojourn Shelton and Vince Biegel.

Shelton was the standout in the secondary, showing an ability to make plays while Biegel was a monster on the edge. He’ll battle a returning Ethan Armstrong for one of the two starting outside linebacker spots & don’t be surprised if he ends up seeing the field more than Armstrong.

On the other side of the ball you better get used to the name Melvin Gordon at running back for Bucky. You may remember his crazy performance against Nebraska in the B1G Championship game, but he’s proved all spring that that performance wasn’t a fluke to say the least. Although he’s got James White and few other backs that he will split time with don’t be surprised to see him lead this team in rushing when it’s all said and done.

Position grades 

QB: B + 

RB: A  (This group is STACKED to say the least. James White and Jeff Lewis missed time with various ankle/arm injuries but they looked really good before the injuries set in. I gave an A because Melvin Gordon is simply a star in the making, proving all spring that he can run between the tackles while still keeping his speed and vision in the open field.)

WR: D  (overall this group didn’t impress much this spring outside of Kenzel Doe, but even he was inconsistent at the start of camp. It’s never good when the head coach admits that an incoming freshman will get every chance to win a job as a starter at a position like WR when you have a full complement of WR’s on the roster already)

OL: B + 

DL: B 

LB: A  (The depth of this group shined with Brendan Kelly (moving from DE to OLB) and Chris Borland not around for all or parts of spring. However, they seemed not to miss a beat and as a group this may be the deepest position on the roster)

DB: B –  (Overall the spring game was pretty good for them, however they had a lot of up’s and down’s early on in camp and depth at this position group will be tested big time.)

ST: N/A  (We didn’t have any punting and outside of a few close FG attempts in the spring game there wasn’t much for us to judge because of the injury issues to the rest of the team)

2013 Surprises?

It’s hard to gauge just how good this team can be with a full compliment of players because they didn’t have it this spring, but I think people are vastly underestimating how good this team can be on a national stage just based on what we saw from young players stepping up all spring long.

The defensive front seven is deep & talented and you add in perhaps the deepest group of talent at running back in the conference (if not the country) you have a recipe for winning at Wisconsin.

This isn’t a 7-5 team from what we saw from a very basic offense and defense in the spring game. Don’t be surprised to see them compete with OSU for yet another birth in the Big Ten title game.

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Andy Coppens of MadTown Badgers & The B1G Time provided the information for our Wisconsin Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up.  For more Badger  football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Andy on Twitter @andycoppens.

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