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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Badgers safety leads defensive charge

Redshirt junior Caputo looks to build on solid start to 2014 season as leader of secondary
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Wisconsin football’s second game of the season against Western Illinois: the Leathernecks were in the red zone, just a few yards away from taking an early 7-2 lead on Wisconsin. Wisconsin was struggling to start the game. But WIU’s drive came to an end. Redshirt junior Michael Caputo picked off Trenton Norvell and returned it 27 yards.

It was Caputo’s first career interception, turning the tides for Wisconsin, who ended up trouncing Western Illinois, 37-3.

A native of Imperial, Pennsylvania, Caputo started 12 of Wisconsin’s 13 games in 2013 after only starting one of the 13 games he played his freshman year.

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Two of the three turnovers that the Wisconsin defense has forced through two games this season have come from Caputo, although his road to becoming a prolific playmaker on defense started in 2013 as a sophomore.

Last season, Caputo hit double-digit tackles for the first time in his career with 10 against Arizona State. He eclipsed double digits once more when he recorded a season-high 12 tackles against BYU. Before the 2013 season, Caputo’s previous high for tackles in a game was just three.

Caputo’s performance throughout his sophomore season was impressive enough for the media to give Caputo honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. His performance in 2013 was one that safeties coach Bill Busch attributed to Caputo’s knowledge of the entire defense.

“Probably the biggest thing for [Caputo] is his overall knowledge of every position,” Busch said. “Not just the positions he plays, but everything that’s going on in the grand scheme of things.”

But Caputo’s two biggest games of his career may have come this season against LSU and Western Illinois.

In the national spotlight against LSU on Aug. 30, Caputo logged a career-high and team-high 15 tackles, while recovering a fumble in the second quarter. It was the first turnover of his career and put the cherry on top of one of Caputo’s most impressive games for the Badgers.

Despite arguably Caputo’s best performance of his career against one of the premier programs in college football, Caputo saw the game against LSU as the defense playing well as a whole, which allowed him to have such a strong performance.

“I think a lot of factors play into it,” Caputo said. “If you look at it, we just played great defense that game. We were playing as a team and that enabled a lot of us to do well. But it was cool and a great feat for me.”

However, if you ask someone other than Caputo about his performance against LSU, you can expect to gain a different perspective. True freshman Lubern Figaro, who was making his first appearance of his collegiate career against LSU, said that Caputo’s performance really impressed him, as it was first time Figaro saw Caputo in live-action.

“It was great seeing [Caputo] for the first time,” Figaro said. “In person, seeing him play for the first time, getting all of those tackles. He was a man among boys.”

Busch even went as far as to say Caputo’s game against LSU was one of the best performances he’s ever seen from a safety.

“In [the LSU game] he played extremely well,” Busch said. “It was one of the better games that I’ve ever had a safety play, as far as just obviously playing within the scheme. But he was a very violent player in that game. I just appreciate his violence towards the ball.”

Caputo is one returning piece of an experienced Badgers’ secondary that also includes redshirt junior cornerback Darius Hillary, sophomore cornerback Sojourn Shelton and Figaro. Figaro is the lone newcomer to the Badgers’ starting secondary and has watched Caputo’s playmaking ability, and knowledge of the defense since he committed to Wisconsin.

“I’ve been watching [Caputo] since my senior year of high school,” Figaro said. “To see how great of a player he is, great tackler and a guy who does the little things right. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”

Caputo’s leadership for this year’s secondary is one that nobody would doubt. From Figaro, to Busch, to Caputo himself, the fourth-year player has embraced his role as the one that spearheads the secondary.

“I see my role as a leader,” Caputo said. “I see my role as to get the young guys up to a level of play to succeed at a high level. And then for me, just fly around and hit people.”

“He’s in the back, he’s the leader, he’s the one that runs the show,” Busch said. “He’s the guy that people will look to in tough times, and he’s the guy they’ll look to on the field.”

Caputo has just under two years remaining at Wisconsin, and his talents are just beginning to show their true potential. Coming into Saturday’s game against Bowling Green as the only one on the Badgers to have an interception, along with being the team’s second leading tackler, Caputo has, without a doubt, been a force in the defensive backfield in 2014. For Busch, he’s seen Caputo play the last two seasons and thinks that his potential is limitless

“He doesn’t have a ceiling,” Busch said. “His ceiling is extremely high because you never have to coach effort, toughness or any of those things right there. So you never have to address that because he does that. His ceiling is very, very high, because every day he comes to work and says, ‘I have to get better.'”

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