The Wisconsin Badgers will break camp today as they prepare for an important 2025 football season. As players and coaches spoke with Wisconsin media yesterday, several notable nuggets emerged. Evan Flood of On3.com does a good job of detailing many of them in this article. However, one sound bite stuck out about the new offense under Jeff Grimes, and it's what defensive coordinator Mike Tressel had to say. In a nutshell, it's a measure of how aggressive the offense is.
"You can never line up in one defense, one call, and expect not to have to make adjustments. There are constant adjustments...there are a lot of challenges that he puts out there, in that regard. I think that he's great for our development...We are getting punched in the mouth every day. Hopefully, we are doing our fair share of punching the mouth as well. "Mike Tressel
#Badgers DC Mike Tressel on going up against Jeff Grimes’ offense: pic.twitter.com/cKKBcfDAOG
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) July 28, 2025
Mike Tressel says that Jeff Grimes' new scheme makes defenses constantly adjust
We have yet to see the new look Wisconsin offensive attack by Jeff Grimes, and it will be one of the most interesting things to watch this coming season. However, the quote above by defensive coordinator Mike Tressel is encouraging.
Tressel has been around defensive philosophy his entire life, living in the shadow of his dad, who was a college football coach, and maybe more notably, his uncle Jim, who was at Ohio State. Tressel has been the DC at Cincinnati and Michigan State. He knows what good offenses look like and how they can be upsetting to a defense. The fact that he describes Grimes' approach as ever changing and causing him and his staff to make adjustments is exactly what Wisconsin fans want to hear at this point.
His players have described Grimes' offense as being the aggressor. Going out and taking, not just expecting it to be handed to you. This is precisely what it seems as if Tressel is describing with his "punch in the mouth" quote.
The new season begins today as the Wisconsin Badgers break camp and begin to fully prepare for football in less than a month.