Despite a dominant victory in week one over Miami (OH), the Badgers were far from perfect. Wisconsin played well as a whole, but there was one unit that was obviously behind the rest of the team.
The offensive line allowed three sacks on the night, and provided little help to the Badger run game, which only averaged 3.8 yards per carry on 43 attempts. Most notably, offensive tackle Davis Heinzen was the weakest link. Heinzen, a transfer and newly promoted starter after the offseason injury to Kevin Heywood, allowed five pressures and two sacks in just 39 pass blocking snaps. He was later replaced by backup Leyton Nelson.
In his Tuesday press conference, head coach Luke Fickell admitted that the offensive line struggled, and he would keep tinkering with the combination to find the right group of guys.
"We've got to figure out what this combination is going to look like, said Fickell. "It's a long year...There will be some shuffling around. We'll give some guys opportunities at different spots...We don't know what the best lineup is going to be and we've got figure that out in the next two, three weeks."
The Badger offensive line might see some changes over the next few weeks
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Leyton Nelson, who filled in for Heinzen on Thursday for a series, looks to be the obvious candidate to replace him permanently in the starting lineup, but there's always a chance Heinzen settles into his role as the season progresses. Emerson Mandell, a redshirt freshman and another new starter, had the lowest PFF grade of the group at 62.5, and is still a work in progress as well. Kerry Kodanko and JP Benzschawel are other names to watch in the group as they figure out the best lineup.
Typically a strong area, the offensive line for now appears to be one of the weaker groups of this Badger team. Injuries and graduations have hit the unit hard, and hopefully Fickell and company can figure out the best five to put out on the field before the Alabama game on September 13th.