Fresh off a 17-0 victory over the Miami (OH) RedHawks in the season opener, the Wisconsin Badgers are taking on the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in Week 2, with kickoff set for 3:00 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium.
Ahead of the contest, the Badgers revealed their depth chart for Week 2, which looks largely similar to their Week 1 depth chart, except for one change with the starters.
At quarterback, Billy Edwards Jr. is still listed as the
starter, indicating he’s week-to-week. However, it’ll be Danny O’Neil at the helm, with quarterback Hunter Simmons taking on the backup responsibilities, as Edwards recovers from a lower-body injury sustained in Week 1.
There are no other changes on offense, but it’s notable to see how snaps actually played out in Week 1. Chris Brooks, Vinny Anthony, and Trech Kekahuna ended up playing the most receiver snaps of the group after being named starters. Behind them, it was Jayden Ballard, Tyrell Henry, and Eugene Hilton getting the majority of the reps.
At running back, Dilin Jones got the majority of the carries, rushing for 73 yards on 14 attempts. But, it was a more even split than the box score showed, as Jones had 31 snaps, while Darrion Dupree had 28 and Cade Yacamelli had 23.
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.
Defensively, Wisconsin made the lone change to their depth chart at outside linebacker, naming Tyreese Fearby as a co-starter with Sebastian Cheeks, with Corey Walker bumping to the second team. Fearby earned 12 snaps as a reserve last Thursday, while Walker got just five snaps in the win.
But, Cheeks and Mason Reiger were the clear leaders at outside linebacker, while Darryl Peterson still had a meaningful role with 22 snaps.
Along the defensive line, it makes sense to have quite a bit of ‘OR’s on the depth chart. Because Wisconsin rotated this group quite a bit, with the leader (Jay’Viar Suggs) playing 18 snaps. That led to fresher bodies and better overall play from the defensive line in Week 1.
At cornerback, though, Wisconsin mainly rotated at the spot outside Ricardo Hallman, with D’Yoni Hill and Omillio Agard splitting those snaps. In the nickel, Geimere Latimer was the clear starter, with Owen Arnett getting a few snaps at the end of the game.
Similarly, at safety, the Badgers primarily played their top two guys, with Austin Brown and Preston Zachman getting a lion’s share of the reps at the position.
Stay tuned for the rest of our coverage ahead of Wisconsin’s Week 2 game!
