Despite losing three starting offensive linemen from last season’s Alamo Bowl-winning squad, Wisconsin is set to continue its tradition of excellence in the trenches in 2003. Offensive line coach Jim Hueber, entering his 12th year at Wisconsin, has developed a reputation for producing top-flight offensive linemen, and this season appears to be no exception.
Dan Buenning and Jonathan Clinkscale, the Badgers’ two returning offensive guards, highlight a group with a lot of big-game experience already under their belts. While the loss of center Al Johnson and tackles Jason Jowers and Ben Johnson may have realigned the leadership roles on the offensive line, this year’s squad appears to be ready to get the job done in 2003. “[My role] has definitely changed from Al (Johnson) being the leader to me and ‘Clink’ being the leaders,” Buenning said. “[The Johnsons and Jowers] will be missed. They were some great guys. They’re all in the NFL right now. It’s hard to replace them at first, but our guys are coming along really well. So we’ll be all right.”
Jonathan Clinkscale, like Buenning, is also ready to step up and be a leader on this year’s team.
“Last year I didn’t have to be too vocal with making calls or anything like that. But this year, me and Dan will be taking a little bit more of a leadership role,” Clinkscale said. “Those players will be missed because they were pretty good players, but we have some pretty good players coming up behind them that are confident that they will be able to do the job.”
Although they’ve had a limited amount of time together as a starting unit, the offensive line has been gelling quickly and has made a lot of progress, according to Buenning and Clinkscale.
“The whole unit is coming together pretty well,” said Clinkscale, who has started 19 of UW’s last 21 games. “We all communicate real well with each other. So we’ll be good.” Buenning shares similar sentiments with Clinkscale as far as the progression of this year’s offensive line go, and he credits their early-season strides to the unit’s closeness, both on and off the field.
“We’re gelling pretty good right now,” Buenning said. “We hang around together quite a bit, both on and off the field. So we know what each other is thinking … So as long as we stay focused, we should be pretty good.”
This year’s receiving corps for the Badgers, in both the media and discussions amongst fans, has been the focus when talking about how UW will fare this season. Granted, Lee Evans, Jonathan Orr and the other Badger wideouts will be vital to Wisconsin’s level of success this year; but if quarterback Jim Sorgi doesn’t receive the necessary amount of time he needs to find the open man, it could be a long season for the Badgers. The Badger big men, however, appear ready to take on the task.
“We’ve been working on pass protection a lot just because we had a lot of trouble with that last year,” Buenning said. “I don’t know if we’re going to pass more or not in the games…it just depends on what happens in the game.”
Clinkscale, like Buenning, considers pass protection to be a major focal point for UW this season, but thinks that Wisconsin’s history of wearing down opposing teams with the running game will not change.
“We’re still going to run the football because that is what we do at Wisconsin. And that’s not going to change.”
Wisconsin has had a history of churning out NFL-caliber offensive linemen, and this season should be no exception. In 2003 Buenning and Clinkscale will join center Donovan Raiola and tackles Mike Lorenz and Morgan Davis in effort to continue the legacy that is UW offensive-line play.
