A year after working with a defensive front filled with four future NFL draft choices, Wisconsin defensive line coach John Palermo finds himself tutoring a group of relative unknowns in 2005. No more Erasmus James. No more Anttaj Hawthorne. No more Jason Jefferson. No more Jonathan Welsh.

“I just think you’ve got to look at it, it’s a new group of kids, and they have to create their own identity right now,” Palermo said. “So we do have a bunch of talented young players. We’ll find out in the first game if they’ll play up to their abilities when the lights come on.”

Projected starting defensive ends Jamal Cooper and Joe Monty are the only members of the group with starts under their belts entering this season’s opener against Bowling Green. Beyond that, only starting right defensive tackle Nick Hayden has seen significant playing time. As a result, the unit enters the season as a question mark and has the unenviable task of filling the void left by last year’s accomplished group.

“Replacing them, it’s tough, coming behind them in their footsteps,” Hayden said. “They taught us what they knew and now we’ve got to carry it over and just do the same thing they left here — dominate inside and compete our [butts] off.”

Last season, the Badger starting front four of James, Hawthorne, Jefferson and Welsh combined to record 19 sacks and 32.5 tackles for losses, setting the tone for a defense that dominated the season’s first nine games.

By contrast, this year’s projected starting front four of Monty, Cooper, Hayden and redshirt freshman Jason Chapman, who took over for sophomore Justin Ostrowski after the latter suffered a leg injury, has totaled just three sacks in their careers. For his part, Cooper looks forward to seeing this group make its own mark.

“You can’t replace them,” Cooper said. “You’ve got to go out there and be yourself. It’s a different attitude with this line. I think we’re more laid back. Those guys were just crazy and stuff. But we can’t go out there thinking that we have to replace them. They can’t be replaced. We’ve got to make our own stuff.”

Despite their inexperience, the group offers plenty of talent. Though consistency has been a problem, Cooper flashed his pass-rushing potential last season. Hayden came to UW last season with a decorated prep resume, and was impressive in both the team’s spring and fall camps. Monty, according to Palermo, is the group’s best leader, and Chapman was effective at both end and tackle in camp.

“Everybody’s got their different things that they do good,” Cooper said. “That’s the good thing about this group. One person just helps off the others, like a yin-yang thing with the D-line.”

Palermo will keep his young group fresh by rotating players through the front. Redshirt freshman Mike Newkirk will give Hayden and Chapman breaks at tackle, while sophomore Kurt Ware and true freshman Matt Schaughnessy will see time at end. Schaughnessy, a newcomer from Norwich, Conn., has put himself in a position to contribute with a solid fall camp in which he showed a good burst off the edge.

“Matt Schaughnessy’s really had a great camp, so I look for him to play a lot of football for us this year,” Palermo said.

Speed rushers like Schaughnessy and Cooper could prove vital Saturday against the pass-happy, spread offensive attack of Bowling Green. The season opener will also provide the group of virtual unknowns with its first chance to prove its detractors wrong.

“Not too many people think we’re going to be that good,” Cooper said. “That’s good. That’s going to be real fun by the end of the season.”