The upgrade is beginning early as Luke Fickell secures the best DL in the portal

Luke Fickell and Chris McIntosh vowed to upgrade the roster this offseason, and they've already started before the season even ends. This morning, they secured the best defensive lineman in the portal, according to On3.com, Jibriel Conde.

While it takes more than one player to upgrade the roster and compete for titles in the Big Ten, this is a good sign that Fickell and McIntosh weren't just feeding Wisconsin fans with empty words. Conde is a huge addition, and not only physically replacing a couple of seniors who are leaving.

No. 1 DL transfer Jibriel Conde has committed to the Wisconsin Badgers

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Conde is listed at 6'5 280 pounds, and this season at Grand Valley State, he had 30 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 6.5 tackles for loss. His effectiveness from the interior line was evident for the Lakers. There is a chance that Fickell and his team will work to get Conde up to 300 pounds.

Fickell has been known to talk about how the interior of the defensive line needs 300-pound bodies in there. He said one of the reasons the line struggled last season was that they weren't big enough. 280 is big, but as Fickell has noted, the offensive linemen that are going against are bigger.

Wisconsin needed to find a way to make a splash in the transfer portal in a lot of different positions, but the defensive line was among the top. The Badgers are losing Ben Barten and Jay'viar Suggs as they have run out of eligibility.

For Wisconsin fans, this is already a good sign that Fickell is making a very intentional effort to improve the roster. The goal will be up and down the whole thing, as the tough schedule this year proved that they aren't close enough to be the upper echelon. Sure, they can knock off a couple of ranked teams, but to consistently be at the top, the roster and coaching have to be elite.