Wisconsin Football: Sophomore CB leaves program

Wisconsin Football received a major blow to its cornerback depth last night with Dontye Carriere-Williams’ decision to leave the program

One of the youngest and most inexperienced position groups on the Wisconsin Football roster just took a big hit.

Last night, sophomore cornerback Dontye Carriere-Williams announced on Twitter that he would be leaving the program with the intention of transferring to a new school.

As Carriere-Williams states, it appears as though Wisconsin has given him a full release from his scholarship obligations.

There is no question that this is a significant loss for a cornerback group that could have really used Carriere-Williams’ presence this season, as he was by far the most experienced player at that position. He played in all 14 games last season as a freshman and performed well, contributing 30 tackles, 7 pass breakups, and an interception.

While it’s certainly possible, perhaps even likely, that there was more going on behind the scenes that contributed to his decision to transfer, it’s difficult not to jump to the conclusion that at least one factor that had to have played a role was his recent demotion to the second-team defense.

Carriere-Williams entered fall practices as an apparent lock to start at one spot on the outside and spent most of the time running with the first team. However, toward the end of camp, Jim Leonhard demoted him to the second team, saying he needed to see more consistency from Carriere-Williams in terms of effort and quality play.

That move was a bit surprising, but most expected him to still be listed with the ones when the depth chart for the Western Kentucky game was released on Sunday. However, Carriere-Williams was ultimately still listed as a backup, along with projected slot corner Madison Cone, behind starters Caesar Williams and Faion Hicks.

The loss of Carriere-Williams is a tough break for this Wisconsin defense. He may not have been listed as a starter, but he is still a promising young player with signficant game experience who was still likely to see significant action against Western Kentucky and beyond. Williams and Hicks may have earned the nod for Friday’s game, but the competition at cornerback is far from over.

With Carriere-Williams off the roster, the top candidates to replace him on the depth chart are likely redshirt freshman Deron Harrell and true freshman Donte Burton, both of whom showed encouraging flashes in fall camp.