The Wisconsin men’s football team approaches the end of spring practice this year with plenty of question to answer. Of all the uncertainty, no position holds more up in the air than the defensive secondary.
One of the more dominant set of defensive backs in all of college football last year will enter the 2016-17 season with a new defensive coordinator in Justin Wilcox, a new defensive backs coach in Jim Leonhard and only one of four returning starters in 5-foot-9 senior corner Sojourn Shelton.
Shelton has been a starter since late in his freshman year and leads the defense in previous experience this season with more than 40 games played at Wisconsin.
“You’re talking to a guy that didn’t play many games as a freshman,” Shelton said. “I was able to go out there, have some fun with it and do some really good things. That’s the kind of thing I expect out of the young guys this season.”
Former legendary Badger safety and now coach Leonhard has his pick of young talent this spring with so many new and returning bench players competing for spots.
As many as nine guys in the secondary will be battling for only a few starting spots, leaving the impression that subs will be frequent and often for this young squad.
“I’ve got a lot of guys that want it right now, which is perfect,” Leonhard said. “They’ll be pushing each other all spring, all summer and all fall camp; we’ll have a better picture then of what’s going on, but I like where we’re at.”
The newcomers will look to replace the likes of redshirt-seniors Tanner McEvoy, Darius Hillary and captain Michael Caputo, a group that led the Badgers to having the top scoring defense in the NCAA a season ago.
At this point in spring practice, the two candidates that seem to be breaking out as potential fill-ins are fifth year senior Leo Musso and junior D’Cota Dixon.
“Musso and I being the guys that are coming back as people that have played, it’s our responsibility to get some of those younger guys ready to play,” Shelton said. “We both know that we’re not doing it alone and we know that we can lean on the coaching staff and other teammates to get this team prepared.”
Musso has been vying for playing time since his freshman season, but finally looks to be making a case for the starting job after the three key departures in the back end. He showed glimpses of potential last year, most notably against Miami (Ohio) where he recorded two interceptions in the team’s second outing of the season.
Dixon also showed flashes of potential in the team’s very first game of the 2015 season, when he recorded eight total tackles against Alabama.
He also grew up in the same area as Shelton in northern Florida and has developed a good relationship with him and the coaching staff over their three seasons together.
“Even with me being a senior, I know I can count on these guys,” Shelton said. “There are so many guys on this defense that are willing to learn and I know that when little things occur I can teach and mentor them knowing that they listen to me.”
Despite the young talent still surrounding the normally dominant backfield core at Wisconsin, the group will be under a lot of pressure to perform this season with the hardest schedule the Badgers have faced in years approaching fast.
In just the first seven weeks of the regular season, the Badgers are scheduled to play five of the top 16 ranked teams in the ESPN projected preseason power rankings, including a four-game stretch against Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Iowa.
With still so many question marks surrounding the unit and a difficult schedule, the Badgers have to answer those questions quickly. Leonhard is confident they’ll be able to do so.
“I know we have a lot of questions, but I’m very pleased with our backfield, especially in the first group,” Leonhard said. “The communication is there and these guys understand the defense, now it just comes down to cleaning it up.”
One thing the secondary can bank on this season is an experienced line-backing core, poised to be one of the best in the nation for yet another year.
Six of the seven starters on the defensive front are back and should get some good pressure on opposing offenses, forcing earlier passes and less time to dissect the secondary.
And even with all the transition for the secondary, optimism is high amongst the coaching staff and the returning players that turnover will be limited. Leonhard and Shelton look to be leading the defensive backfield in the right direction.
“A lot of guys are hungry, they want to get on that field,” Leonhard said. “That’s a beautiful thing as a coach, to not have guys waiting a year, two years to try and wait for a spot. These guys want it right now and that’s great.”
