The Wisconsin Badgers had their first bye week of the season, which allowed the team to get healthier and get players more reps as they look to turn things around.
One of the areas Wisconsin experimented with was its offensive line, as the Badgers have seen some shuffling there to start the year. The Badgers have dealt with injuries to Jake Renfro and Kerry Kodanko during the season, while also shuffling around the group quite a bit.
Davis Heinzen was benched after struggling at left tackle in Week
1. That led to wholesale changes, as Riley Mahlman moved to left tackle for the first time in years, prompting Emerson Mandell to kick out to right tackle from guard after just one start and Colin Cubberly to enter the starting lineup.
Then, with Renfro’s injury, Kerry Kodanko saw snaps at center, but then the backup’s injury forced Ryan Cory into action during Weeks 3 and 4.
Now, Wisconsin is hoping to get all of its players back, but they’re also experimenting with the unit to see what other changes to make. One of them? Trying Heinzen at center.
“Well, we don’t know right now [about changing up the offensive line],” Fickell said on Monday ahead of the Michigan Wolverines game. “We’ve made some changes around. I think Davis [Heinzen] has played some center this past week. They did a pretty good job at that. And just trying to figure out, do we get some guys healthy? Is Jake [Renfro] able to go? Is Kerry Kodanko ready to go again?
“If they are, we have an opportunity to be able to move some of those guys around you, those older guys, but a lot of those pieces are what make it difficult, right? I mean, even in the bye week, Joe Brunner didn’t take a lot of snaps, and so guys had to fill that spot. And so, that mixture of guys playing with each other at the same time, where we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do for those guys to build the camaraderie and the ability to know what each other are doing, even when it’s not said, has been obviously an Achilles heel for us right now.
“So there could be some changes based on, you know, the health of these guys as we get into this week. But it’s another one of those things that’s just been most difficult. It’s not knowing in your preparation who are you or who will you have as you get to Saturday?”
The injuries have hampered plans for the Badgers since the offseason. An injury to Kevin Heywood in the spring forced Wisconsin to scramble for a solution in the spring portal, landing Heinzen. Then, the fall camp injury to Renfro didn’t allow the Badgers to test out their best five linemen as much as they wanted to ahead of the season. Instead, they had to account for numbers elsewhere, with Kodanko playing more center than guard and J.P. Benzschawel kicking out to tackle.
Even now, they aren’t able to fully experiment and figure out their best unit, which has led to more midseason scrambling. Wisconsin hasn’t had this problem in the past, being lucky with a healthy offensive line.
Facing issues now, the Badgers have struggled to handle the adversity.
