Fresh off a 42-10 victory over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in Week 2, the Wisconsin Badgers are traveling to face the Alabama Crimson Tide in Week 3, with kickoff set for 11:00 a.m. at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Ahead of the contest, the Badgers revealed their depth chart for Week 3, which has a couple of changes along the offensive line.
The Badgers have changed up the depth chart at quarterback, with Danny O’Neil now listed as the starter
and Hunter Simmons listed as the backup. Billy Edwards is still shown on the depth chart, but noted as a ‘DNP’ in Week 2.
Currently, it’s unclear whether Edwards will be able to suit up on Saturday, as head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged there isn’t an update currently. So, it could be O’Neil making his second consecutive start in one of the toughest environments in college football.
There are no changes for the skill position players on offense, and the snap counts relatively reflected the depth chart, although Grant Stec and Jackson Acker got the same number of snaps as the TE2 on Saturday.
Along the offensive line, though, there are quite a few changes that reflect what the Badgers showed this past weekend.
Riley Mahlman has moved to left tackle, with Leyton Nelson being listed as the backup there. Kerry Kodanko is the starting center with Jake Renfro injured, which means JP Benzschawel is the backup left guard. Redshirt freshman Colin Cubberly is listed as the starting right guard, with true freshman Nolan Davenport cracking the two-deep. And redshirt freshman Emerson Mandell has moved over to right tackle, with benched tackle Davis Heinzen being listed as the backup there.
At tight end, it was a fairly even split between Lance Mason and Jackson Acker, with Grant Stec getting a good portion of snaps as well. Wisconsin is going with more two tight end sets as we noted last week, so this group was expected to see a bump up in snaps as a whole.
Along the offensive line, the one position to watch is left tackle, as the Badgers did pull a struggling Davis Heinzen late for Leyton Nelson, who saw seven snaps at the end of the game. Heinzen was brought in via the transfer portal to start, but Wisconsin will need better play at left tackle going forward.
Along the defensive line, Ben Barten, Jay’Viar Suggs, and Brandon Lane continue to be the top producers there. Dillan Johnson was the fourth defensive lineman on Saturday with Corey Walker out, while Charles Perkins did not play. Instead, Nolan Vils got 14 snaps, getting time at the end of the game, while Jamel Howard got a few snaps as well.
Mason Reiger and Sebastian Cheeks continue to pace the outside linebacker room, with Darryl Peterson playing his hybrid role quite a bit as well. Behind them, though, there weren’t as many snaps to a specific player. Tyreese Fearbry was the top player off the bench again, but Micheal Garner saw 11 snaps for the first time, and Nicolas Clayton got in near the end for the second straight week.
At inside linebacker, Tackett Curtis and Christian Alliegro are the clear top duo. But, the blowout allowed Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa to get some snaps, with the latter getting a sack to end the game.
Corner and safety also have pretty defined starters, but reserve Matt Jung rotated in more at safety, seeing 19 snaps in the game.
Stay tuned for the rest of our coverage ahead of Wisconsin’s Week 3 game!
