The Wisconsin Badgers had their bye week this past week, allowing the team to regroup and get healthier as they prepare for the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines this weekend.
While the bye week helped improve chemistry for a team that has lacked some, it also allowed the team to see some freshmen in action as the veterans took off some reps. And there were certainly some standouts.
Asked about the defensive side of the ball, senior defensive lineman Ben Barten name-dropped true freshmen linebackers Cooper
Catalano and Mason Posa as two players who consistently made plays in practice.
“I love our linebacker core. Those young guys are great, between Coop Cat (Cooper Catalano), [Mason] Posa, and Tommy Heiberger,” Barten said. “Tommy’s also second year, which still is very young in the aspect of college football, but that’s a great athlete.
“And then other than that, Dillan Johnson had a good bye week. He really had a hell of a practice today. I don’t know if you guys were out there for it, but he really looked good. Again, I’d have to sit down and think about it. But like, there’s going to be guys who are always rising with these opportunities, and there’s going to be guys who look at it as how do you steal a game rep during a bye week. So, I mean, there were some very positive outcomes.”
Because of the nature of the season, the bye week was the first time that Barten truly saw reps with Posa and Catalano, and he came away impressed.
“I mean, this week, since it’s not as much like ones, twos, threes, it’s whatever rotation, the D-line ended up playing with them. So like, this was my first time getting play with Coop and Posa. So like, there were times where I’m cutting the ball off, and where usually it’s Christian [Alliegro] shooting it and making the play, I’m looking over and it’s number 44 (Catalano), which was really cool to see out of those guys. I’ve got a ton of confidence for [the] younger guys.”
Earlier this week, head coach Luke Fickell also shared how impressed he was with Posa and his early development after not being with the team during the spring.
“There are some young guys [standing out], especially you talked about Mason Posa. There’s a guy that wasn’t here in the spring, so you really didn’t have an idea, and it’s obviously difficult for young guys to play anyway, but when they’re here in the spring, they got a much better opportunity,” Fickell acknowledged.
“But he’s done a great job. We’ve actually used him in some package stuff. Played a little bit more on the third down stuff a week ago, which obviously gave us an opportunity maybe to switch those guys up inside and maybe give some guys some rest as well. But what he does is going to continue to grow, and that’s where you see some of the youth, and that’s what we’ve got to count on, right? I mean, when you’re asking: how do you make some things happen, and how do you get over some of these humps, and how do you continue to grow and build? There’s a lot of young guys, and where there are some things that are tough with those young guys, you got to be able to battle through with them. And by nature, those guys, as long as they can keep the energy, they can keep the emotion, they can see the growth and the things that they’re doing, they bring you energy.”
Posa has been a guy who has especially brought the energy in Fickell’s eyes, which has jumpstarted his development as he continues to learn more about the scheme.
“I think that’s one of those guys, in particular, Mason Posa, that has done that,” Fickell continued. “He’s a guy that, I’m not saying he knows everything. I’m not saying he knows most of the stuff, but the great thing about some guys like him is, it doesn’t slow him down. And when he has an opportunity to make some plays, he puts himself in a position, and he makes them.
“And we’ve seen that in the first four games, whether it’s been in some late game stuff, whether it’s been in some crucial situations. And he [has] made some mistakes, and came around the edge a week ago, and was a little bit out of control. The guy got the edge on us. But I think that those guys do give us some energy and some things that we need, and those sparks to say, ‘hey, we have to find a way to continue to pound this rock, but find a way to make some things happen.’ And by nature, sometimes these young guys are ones that can do that.”
With how the team currently looks, Wisconsin will need some of those younger players to ignite the fire in this team. Someone like Posa could be the answer for that.
