The Badgers are midway through spring ball.
The Wisconsin Badgers are midway through their spring ball schedule, finishing up practices No. 7 and 8 on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.
As the Badgers get deeper and deeper into their spring program, major takeaways are starting to form. Saturday’s practice was a longer one on a major recruiting day, while things started to pick up on Tuesday.
Let’s break down three quick takeaways from both practices, starting with Saturday’s.
Practice No. 7: Quarterbacks struggle
Thursday (practice No. 6) was a rough day for quarterback Billy Edwards, who was subject to interceptions, and Saturday didn’t provide much better results, as the defense won the day.
Accuracy was an issue for Edwards, as he had a few errant balls. Edwards threw an interception to Austin Brown off a deflection from Nyzier Fourqurean, had a pass at the feet of J.T. Seagraves on 7-on-7s, nearly had another pick to Austin Brown, and was late on a checkdown on another play.
Moreover, the issue was the lack of major plays, be it during 7-on-7s or 11-on-11s. I don’t value 7-on-7s much because of the lack of pass rush, but it’s telling when the defense is still able to get a grasp on the offense by playing just in coverage.
Danny O’Neil’s day wasn’t much better, although there were some flashes and moments. He was flustered in the pocket on a drop-back, leaving early and throwing the ball away. Later, in a two-play sequence, O’Neil had a slot fade to Kyan Berry-Johnson that was dropped in perfect location, but the wideout couldn’t corral the pass in during 7-on-7s in the red zone.
Then, on the following play, O’Neil had a poor pass to Quincy Burroughs, but the wideout was able to tip the ball to himself and make an impressive catch for a touchdown.
O’Neil’s accuracy was off on a few other throws as well, as he was behind Burroughs on a slant, was low on an incomplete checkdown, and was slow to throw another pass as pressure came.
Ultimately, it wasn’t a big day for the offense, as there weren’t many major plays in the air for Wisconsin’s quarterbacks.
Practice No. 7: Safeties shine
Well, when the offense is struggling, it usually means the defense is doing well. And that was the case on Saturday, particularly in the secondary with the safeties.
Austin Brown has moved to being a full-time safety alongside Preston Zachman, and he’s gotten his hands on a few passes already this spring, recording both interceptions and pass breakups in the secondary.
Brown had an interception and a near-interception on the day, but he wasn’t the only one to make plays on Saturday.
The entire safety room was making plays, especially at the line of scrimmage, as the unit displayed its physicality. Bethel transfer Matt Jung combined with transfer linebacker Antarron Turner to force a fumble on Vinny Anthony on an end-around with a big hit near the sideline.
Richmond transfer Matthew Traynor has looked to lay the boom a few times in practice, even getting flagged once on Saturday for a big hit on freshman wide receiver Eugene Hilton.
Without Hunter Wohler, the safety room looks much different in 2025, with Brown sliding back to his natural position and new faces joining the group. But, they’ve quietly had a nice impact in the new defense, and that was especially seen on Saturday.
Practice No. 7: New sprinkle to the offense
Wisconsin has tried a lot of new things offensively with offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, who is looking to get the Badgers back to more of a physical, smashmouth team.
Grimes has used a lot of heavier personnel packages, gone under center more, and shown a different scheme in the run game than Wisconsin had in 2024.
But, he’s also looked to make plays in space in a variety of different ways. The Badgers have kept the screen plays, but they’ve also had their fair share of end-arounds and are running the quarterback more often.
The end-arounds have seen varied success early on, but there were some struggles on Saturday, as Wisconsin had a fumble from Vinny Anthony and another fumble from Quincy Burroughs on the play. Anthony’s was more of a play from the defense, while Burroughs’s was on the handoff.
Wisconsin has a few speedy athletes, such as Anthony and transfer Jayden Ballard, who add intrigue to the plays in space as the Badgers find different ways to create explosive plays.
That could mean using the wideouts as ball-carriers from the backfield on plays like end arounds or via a variety of screen plays that Wisconsin has begun to install.
Practice No. 8 Tuesday: Quarterbacks bounce back
After a rough Saturday for the quarterbacks, it was a bounce-back day on Tuesday.
Things didn’t look hot to begin, as Edwards had an ugly throw up the seam well behind Vinny Anthony in 7-on-7s that was intercepted by Ricardo Hallman, while two other throws on his first few drives were broken up.
After that, though, Edwards started to get into a groove. In 11-on-11s, he hit Tucker Ashcraft on a good ball in stride over the middle for a big gain. He also had a few quarterback keepers that showcased his ability as a ball-carrier on designed runs.
While there were still quite a few checkdowns, the decision-making was better from Edwards. He got the ball out quicker, made solid reads, and found a way to hit on explosive plays.
Later, Edwards had a really nice ball over the shoulder to Tucker Ashcraft for a 25-yard touchdown. Then came the best part of his day: operating the two-minute drill for the first time this spring.
Edwards began the drive with another well-placed over-the-shoulder ball to Tucker Ashcraft to the far sideline, who made a nice tip-toe catch to stay inbounds. Edwards followed that with a quick completion over the middle. Moving quickly, he hit Quincy Burroughs on a slant, but the wideout dropped the pass.
After a Dilin Jones run, Edwards had a quarterback keeper and a short quick curl to Jayden Ballard, moving the Badgers down the field to the red zone effectively.
Danny O’Neil had a solid day filled with some ups and downs. He had some major plays, hitting J.T. Seagraves on a great ball in traffic over the middle, as the tight end dove for the catch. Right after, O’Neil found Jayden Ballard on a deep 50-yard touchdown pass that hyped up the offense.
But, he did miss Kyan Berry-Johnson with a slight overthrow, and then had two passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. O’Neil’s height will be a factor to watch as a more undersized quarterback, as the Badgers dealt with batted balls at the line of scrimmage with a smaller quarterback last year.
However, O’Neil finished the day strong with a solid two-minute drill. He started things off by hitting a wide-open J.T. Seagraves in the flat for a solid gain. Then came a checkdown to Gideon Ituka on the backside after reading the other side of the field first. Another checkdown to an open Ituka and a short curl to Vinny Anthony followed, moving the Badgers even further down the field.
Ituka had a short run, and O’Neil was sacked by Antarron Turner to end the drive, but he got the Badgers near the red zone as well to end the day.
Ultimately, it was a positive day for the top two signal-callers, with both finishing strong.
Practice No. 8: Secondary Stands Out
The secondary has been the winner of spring ball so far, making more plays, which has been a huge emphasis from the staff.
The safety room was the standout on Saturday. Ricardo Hallman was the Player of the Day on Sunday.
Hallman had an interception and a pass-breakup on back-to-back plays, although the latter was tipped inadvertently into the hands of a receiver. Head coach Luke Fickell was effusive in his praise of Hallman after practice, noting the mentality and drive that have fueled the senior cornerback after returning to Wisconsin.
He wasn’t the only one who stood out. I liked what I saw from nickelback Geimere Latimer, who has been playing with the top defense as the No. 3 cornerback for the last few practices. While his coverage skills weren’t on display as much on Tuesday, Latimer showed his physicality by sticking his nose in there to blow up a pitch to the edge, forcing a tackle for loss.
Earlier, he also had good speed to the sideline on another run play to force another tackle on another play.
Latimer saw some snaps on the outside, while Hallman was in the slot on a few plays, which was an intriguing alignment that we could see more of this year.
Austin Brown had another pass breakup, showing his nose for the football after his interception and pass breakup on Saturday.
The defensive line is bigger this year, which was an emphasis for the coaching staff in part because of how comfortable they felt with the defense matching against 11 personnel.
As Wisconsin incorporates a new scheme, the secondary will have to be more opportunistic this season. They’re off to a solid start in the spring.
Practice No. 9: Kicker struggles?
Wisconsin’s kickers practice a few field goals at the end of every practice. I wanted to take more note on Tuesday, given Nathanial Vakos’s struggles in 2024, which led to a lack of confidence in the sophomore.
Well, Tuesday didn’t do much to shake the narrative. Vakos missed right on a 39-yard field goal, hit from 44, and was way left on a 49-yard field goal.
Meanwhile, backup kicker Gavin Lahm hit all three of his field goals from that distance. Wisconsin is looking to improve its special teams, but it needs much more consistency from Vakos in the kicking department if it wants to improve its offense in 2025.
Vakos was a measly 12/19 (63.2 percent) in 2024, going 6/10 from 30-39 yards and 0/3 from 40-49 yards. He has the big leg, which was on display during his freshman year at Ohio. That needs to become more consistent across the board in 2025.
