This Week's Wisconsin Mailbag
Wisconsin begins Big Ten Confernece play on Saturday against Maryland. Should the Badgers drop that one at home to an unranked opponent, what could it mean for the future? The Big Ten basketball schedule was also released on Thursday. How difficult of a path to the Badgers have? Badger Blitz answers your questions in this week’s mailbag…
Which Players Will Burn Their Redshirts?
Here’s a look at the 2026 class and the participation numbers through three games.
Nick Clayton – 2
Eugene Hilton – 3
Grant Dean – 1
Cairo Skanes – 3
Cooper Catalano – 3
Mason Posa – 2
We knew going into the season that Catalano and Hilton were going to burn that redshirt. We haven’t seen much of Skanes defensively, but three games already suggests Wisconsin wants to have him as ready as possible in case he’s needed for an emergency. Obviously, if Nyzier Fourqurean is granted eligibility, that may change those plans.
The results from the outside linebackers have been good, not great. That being said, I think Clayton maybe gets more of a run in Big Ten play and burns his redshirt. Posa is probably iffy. If you’re Wisconsin, I don’t think you’d like to burn both Catalano’s and Posa’s redshirt, but he is the No. 4 inside linebacker essentially.
Will Wisconsin Need to Pick Up Multiple Quarterbacks in the Portal?
Listen, I’ve always been a big advocate of signing quarterbacks until you hit. It’s the most important position in sports and your entire season rides on who you’ve got under center. I’ve never understood this program’s lack of urgency or desperation at quarterback — and this predates Luke Fickell. For so many years the Badgers have had almost every other piece of the puzzle, but sit there and take one per cycle and rarely had a guy who can put you over the top.
To Fickell’s credit, not only did he sign three quarterbacks (two portal, one high school) in the last cycle, he went out and got a backup with 11 games of starting experience in Danny O’Neil. So, yes, if I’m Wisconsin, I’m doing it again. Unless O’Neil finishes this season and goes crazy, and even if he does, the Badgers need an experienced upperclassman who has won at this level and preferably an insurance policy for Carter Smith.
This program doesn’t need a seventh wide receiver or a sixth inside linebacker. It needs an above-average quarterback. Maybe two with the injury history since 2020. UW has picked up some odd additions from the portal that they don’t need/use. I’d be stacking quarterbacks until I know my future is secure.
Do you think NIL/transfer portal completely breaks the Wisconsin winning model, or is the current team more of a Luke Fickell issue?
It has absolutely broken the model. I’ve talked about this in basketball and how much Greg Gard has had to adjust. Now, he’s got 13 scholarship players to manage. Fickell is dealing with 85. But in basketball, you can adapt more easily because of the smaller scale. Waiting on Frank Kaminsky to develop today is a fool’s errand. In those two years he’s doing nothing for Wisconsin, that’s two impact portal transfers. When you only play five players at a time, stocking talent for the future hurts dearly.
Obviously, you can’t get away from that in football. The Badgers, and everyone else, still need to recruit high school talent, pretty much as they did pre-portal/NIL. But there’s a lot going against the tried and true method of player development. As a freshman/sophomore, players are constantly being over-recruited from the portal. There’s not as clear a path to playing time. Players are almost always more valuable somewhere else. Somebody is always willing to pay more. Why stick it out at your program when someone else has a need for you elsewhere and you make more money? Then, even if you’re paid well and on pace to play early, i.e., Xavier Lucas, there’s always a school with deeper pockets.
This is where Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard may have had an unforeseen advantage in this era. Are they big NIL/portal guys? No, but the players they brought in were almost always as blue-collar as it gets. They don’t beg people to come to Wisconsin. Their mindset was, ‘You either want to be here or you don’t.’ Not saying it’s the best approach, but at least you knew the players that signed with the Badgers wanted to be here and came for the right reasons. Hence, there might have been a better retention rate.
At the end of the day, Fickell needs to win the portal. In his three classes, he’s not hitting in the manner that he should. This most recent transfer class appears to be his best thus far, so perhaps that’s promising going forward.
Who Would Be Your Top Candidates to Replace Luke Fickell?
I really want to see this season and 2026 finish out, assuming the wheels don’t completely fall off at Wisconsin. But if I had a short list, here are four names I’d put on it.
Fran Brown (Syracuse) – If you can win at Syracuse, you can win a lot of places. Brown is a no-nonsense type coach, who can give Wisconsin the kick in the ass it needs. At 12-4 overall right now, Brown has pulled two really good portal quarterbacks. He’s had some real dudes at the kill positions as well. Think he’s the perfect mixture of what the Badgers need — a little old school, but gets this era.
Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State) – This would be the pipe dream pick. I don’t like hiring coaches when you know you’re a stepping stone for them, but if there’s an opportunity, how could you not? Dillingham is making less than $4 million this season at Arizona State. He’s affordable, does more with less, and his players love him. It does sort of feel like Fickell’s situation, minus the fact that Dillingham is only 34 years old. Not only did Dillingham make a surprise playoff appearance early in his tenure, but he’s also one of the top names in the coaching circle. Just about every power-four program with an opening is going to want him at some point, it feels like.
Jon Sumerall (Tulane) – Wisconsin fans want to win and want results quickly. Sumerall is 35-9 as a head coach. His worst season is 9-5, and could be on track for three double-digit winning seasons in four years between Tulane and Troy. Not sure his team’s identities have screamed “Wisconsin,” but Sumerall does have a defensive background. His teams just score A LOT of points.
Dave Aranda (Baylor) – The nostalgia pick. I don’t think he’d take it, out of respect for Leonhard, but I’m just going to throw the bonus name out there. I know Aranda isn’t a hot name anymore, but we know what he does works at Wisconsin and works really well. Badger fans love him. The alumni love him. Aranda and his family love Madison. The stint as UW’s defensive coordinator was cut too short. If things don’t go well at Baylor this season, maybe Aranda jumps ship.
Others: Billy Napier (Florida), Marcus Arroyo (Arizona State), Tim Banks (Tennessee), Jake Dickert (Wake Forest), Ben Arbuckle (Oklahoma)
Will Emerson Mandell Move Back to Guard?
Emerson Mandell was recruited to play guard, with the option to slide out to tackle if needed. Wisconsin probably needs to hit the portal for an experienced right tackle. If they don’t, I’m not sure they can move Mandell back inside quite yet.
For now, he’s a guard. But they’ve got more of a surplus at guard than they do tackle since Kevin Heywood is hurt, Leyton Nelson probably won’t pan out, and Davis Heinzen is currently a work in progress. Think 2026 depends on three things. What does Wisconsin get in the portal? Does Barrett Nelson come back, and if so, what does he look like? And does Nolan Davenport make a big step in year two?
Thoughts on Wisconsin’s Big Ten Schedule Draw?
If Wisconsin doesn’t start 2-0, I think it would be a disappointment. Obviously, we don’t know much about teams these days until they start playing, but beating Northwestern at home and Nebraska on the road should be attainable.
The Badgers should be able to get hot in January. There’s a run here that goes Minnesota (away), Rutgers (away), Penn State (home), USC (away), Minnesota (home), and Ohio State (home). If you can’t get hot there, when can you?
I don’t really see a daunting stretch. There’s a three-game stint in early January where UW goes Purdue (home), UCLA (home), and then at Michigan. The schedule appears to be broken up really nicely for the Badgers. There’s one more three-game stretch that’s challenging, but again, not overwhelming. UW travels to Indiana and Illinois before hosting Michigan State.
Two games against Purdue, arguably the number one team in the country is less than ideal. However, Wisconsin will only face Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, and Michigan State once. That’s four of the top six teams preseason in my opinion. UCLA might be in that group as well. Again, just one matchup.
Don’t think there’s a lot to complain about here.
