The Wisconsin Badgers had their senior day last weekend when they hosted the Illinois Fighting Illini, as all of their seniors got the chance to be honored and walk ahead of the game.
Among the group was
redshirt junior Joe Brunner, who has been a starter the last two years and could potentially leave for the NFL after the season.
Given that Brunner still had eligibility, it caught the eye of a few that the offensive lineman elected to walk, with some believing it could be his final game at Camp Randall Stadium.
Is that actually the case?
“He’s been one of those [players who has been] kind of the rock behind a lot of the things that’s going on,” head coach Luke Fickell said on Monday. “We also have seen the ups and downs, and when we talk about what’s going on inside that locker room, Joe has been a rock. I have the utmost respect for him. He had actually asked me earlier in the week about being able to walk with his buddies.
“He said, ‘it doesn’t mean anything, Coach, I haven’t made [any decision]. I just let it go. I said, ‘if that’s what you want to do and you want to go walk with a lot of the guys that obviously you live with and your buddies, then we’ll go about that. We won’t read into it.’ We’ll move forward because we respect you. You’ve meant an incredible, incredible amount to us and our program, our team this year in particular.”
Brunner has the opportunity to return for another season at Wisconsin, and there doesn’t seem to be much traction about him leaving for another program. But, if there is good feedback from the NFL during the pre-draft process in January, it may be in the offensive lineman’s best interest to capitalize on his stock and look to get drafted.
If Brunner does leave, Wisconsin could look for one of its younger players to fill in the guard spot, and may see some shuffling this offseason.
But, that doesn’t seem fully set in stone just yet, even after walking last Saturday.
