Badger of Honor
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Wisconsin Football: Seven team strengths in 2018

By Tanner Nestle

LINCOLN, NE - OCTOBER 07: Offensive lineman Tyler Biadasz #61 of the Wisconsin Badgers snaps the ball to quarterback Alex Hornibrook #12 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE - OCTOBER 07: Offensive lineman Tyler Biadasz #61 of the Wisconsin Badgers snaps the ball to quarterback Alex Hornibrook #12 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /
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Wisconsin Football
MADISON, WI – OCTOBER 15: D’Cota Dixon #14 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrates after intercepting a pass in the end zone during the third quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Camp Randall Stadium on October 15, 2016 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images) /

Leadership on defensive

Wisconsin won a lot of games last season due to the defense being dominant. When the offense struggled to get things going, like against Purdue and Illinois, the defense made sure the game was still out of reach for the pesky divisional opponents. The Badgers lost a lot of talent on that side of the ball, both to expiring eligibility and to injuries this spring, but return some great talent capable of leading the defense to great heights yet again.

D’Cota Dixon, T.J. Edwards, Ryan Connelly, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Olive Sagapolu are all seniors and have every level of the defense covered. That senior leadership has seen everything there is to see in the Big Ten and has my trust to keep the defense firing on all cylinders.

I’m not expecting the defense to be as great as it was in recent years, but it’s not completely out of the question that it gets there by the end of the year. Great defenses are often led by great players, which Wisconsin clearly has. If that leadership is able to elevate the play of the youth and inexperience around them the defense can be tops in the Big Ten.

Most defenses that lose significant talent don’t return star quality players. Sometimes a returning starter is just a passable talent or somebody who wasn’t all that great the year before. That isn’t the case with who the Badgers return. They’ve seen success before, have played at all-conference levels, and are back ready to create more chaos for opposing offenses. Even if the rest of the starters don’t pan out, nearly half of Wisconsin’s defense can produce top-tier play.

The basement for the defense is no lower than being an average defense in the Big Ten. The Badgers should be able to smooth out any rough edges early on thanks to the cupcakes on the schedule.