Bye Week Report Card: Offensive Line

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin enters its bye week with a 2-2 overall record, including 0-1 in Big Ten Conference play. How have the Badgers been performing at the offensive line position through the first part of the 2025 season? Badger Blitz takes a closer look with the help of Pro Football Focus…

OVERVIEW/PFF GRADES

Jake Renfro – 71.0 (121 snaps)

Emerson Mandell – 66.5 (267 snaps)

Riley Mahlman – 63.5 (260 snaps)

Davis Heinzen – 63.4 (81 snaps)

Joe Brunner – 63.0 (258 snaps)

Collin Cubberly – 57.8 (166 snaps)

JP Benzschawel – 54.5 (35 snaps)

Ryan Cory – 42.6 (91 snaps)

Kerry Kodanko – 40.5 (58 snaps)

The offensive line has been dealt some tough blows going back to the spring when starting left tackle Kevin Heywood was lost for the season with an ACL injury. Not having Renfro has hurt as well. The Badgers can’t afford not to have the senior center, and when Kodanko/Cory get thrown into the fire, things get dicey. The two freshmen, Mandell and Cubberly, haven’t found their footing yet. Offensive line coach A.J. Blazek turned Benzschawel against Maryland to try to get this group going.

ONE POSITIVE TREND FOR WISCONSIN

Although the individual run blocking grades aren’t great, when Wisconsin runs behind its horses, Mahlman and Brunner, they are getting production. They don’t do it enough in my opinion, but the left side of the line is where the Badgers can get a push. Some of this comes via the wide receivers and Danny O’Neil, but when UW runs off the left side or between Mahlman and Brunner, they are averaging 4.8 yards per carry. In fact, 14 of the 34 first downs picked up on the ground have come when Brunner and Mahlman are responsible for creating a hole.

ONE NEGATIVE TREND FOR WISCONSIN

Wisconsin’s offensive line ranks No. 12 in the Big Ten in pass blocking, per Pro Football Focus. The Badgers are No. 119 in the country in sacks allowed per game (3.3) and No. 123 in sack percentage (10.5%). In four games, UW has surrendered a whopping 44 quarterback pressures and is averaging 6.3 tackles for loss allowed, which ranks No. 106 in FBS.

There’s a lot of on-the-job training taking place, but these numbers are just too high. Six offensive linemen have given up at least five pressures this season, led by Mandell (8) and Mahlman (7). These are also areas the Badgers excelled in a year ago — protecting the quarterback and preventing negative plays that put the offense behind the chains.

GRADE: F

Not sure there’s any other option. I don’t live and die by the PFF grades, but I’d say they’re accurate in this case. Wisconsin has one offensive lineman playing in the 70 range (Renfro), and he’s been hurt half the season. Not sure you can look at this group yet and say someone is stepping up and trying to right the ship — at least with their play on the field. That’s discouraging, because the Badgers have two guys who should be in position to play on Sundays in 2026.

Given there were some changes after game one, as Heinzen lost his starting job, forcing UW to get younger up front, we could cut the room some slack. However, things didn’t even look that promising against Middle Tennessee, and all season long, the backs have been running into a wall, while the quarterbacks are now starting to run for their lives.