Wisconsin Football: Most underrated returning Badgers

Defensive End – Isaiahh Loudermilk

When Loudermilk committed I couldn’t get over how awesome his name was. When I found out he was 6 feet, 7 inches tall and nearly 300 pounds I was even more excited. I knew nothing other than he was going to become a great football player someday.

That day will soon be upon us as Loudermilk is currently slated to be one of the starting defensive ends in 2018. He has big shoes to fill, as does most of the defense, with Alec James and Conor Sheehy no longer in Madison.

Loudermilk has legitimate size for his position. If he turns into one of the best ends in the Big Ten, nobody would be surprised. He played some tight end in high school too, so you know he’s a good athlete. He’s had the proper time to develop and get used to the college game. Every sign points towards Loudermilk being the next rock-steady defensive lineman for the Badgers.

Stopping the run shouldn’t be much of an issue with the depth at inside linebacker on the roster behind him. T.J. Edwards, Ryan Connelly and Chris Orr will surely clean up whatever Olive Sagapolu and Loudermilk cannot. Where Loudermilk can really shine is in the pass rush. There’s an opportunity for anybody to step up in that department after the Badgers have to, yet again, replace the pass rushing outside linebackers on the defense.

Loudermilk should become one of the big bodies we see clogging up rushing lanes for opposing offenses. At the end of the year when he’s racked up several tackles for loss and is part of Wisconsin’s dominant rush defense, we’ll be wondering how he still has two years of eligibility left.