Through the first two weeks of the season, it’s pretty clear that the Wisconsin Badgers are going to play their young talent this season.
Week 2’s shakeup along the offensive line featured redshirt freshman Colin Cubberly making his first career start at right guard, while Emerson Mandell made his first career start at right tackle and second overall start for the Badgers.
Elsewhere, several redshirt freshmen and true freshmen have already seen the field for the Badgers, be it on special teams or actually
on either offense or defense. While head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged it may be a little earlier for certain players than they would normally play, the team is not going to shy away from putting their top talent on the field.
“I don’t know that there was any one thing to say that this group of [freshmen] is ready,” Fickell said on Monday. “In some ways, you might say they’re thrown in there a little bit sooner than maybe they should, but that’s how you grow up, and that’s all part of taking your opportunities and running with them. I think we’ve all seen that here in the past, just even in my time, I think back to Tanner Bortolini. I wasn’t yet here with him, but all of a sudden, he’s thrown in the mix, I heard as a very, very young guy that had no business being in there. And, look what it did for him. He was able to leave early, and he was prepared for [it].
“And so I think these guys are the same way. There’s more of those guys that are thrown in the mix. It’s not just the two offensive linemen that are starting. There’s some defensive guys that have been thrown in the mix a lot too. Now they’re not starters, whether it’s Cairo [Skanes] on the outside, or Cooper Catalano, or Mason Posa, or some of those guys. Tommy Heiberger is a redshirt freshman. There’s a lot of those guys that are right there in that position that, as a coach, you’re sitting there saying, ‘Well, I hope we can give them another six months or six games to grow up and mature, but you never know how that’s going to happen.’
“So, those guys have got to be ready, and they will grow immensely. It’s just some things that you got to be able to grow through together. And so we’re seeing that a little bit more for those guys up front, but that’s the exciting part about it. You’re seeing guys grow, and know what it’s going to look like as we continue to push forward all the way in the back.”
Let’s break down the full list of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen who have seen the field through the first two weeks.
Redshirt freshmen
RB Dilin Jones
RB Gideon Ituka
TE Grant Stec
OL Emerson Mandell
OL Colin Cubberly
OL Ryan Cory
LB Thomas Heiberger
CB Omillio Agard
S Raphael Dunn
True freshmen
WR Eugene Hilton Jr.
TE Emmett Bork
OL Nolan Davenport
OLB Nicolas Clayton
LB Mason Posa
LB Cooper Catalano
CB Cairo Skanes
S Grant Dean
