From the frozen tundra....Greetings.

#27
#27
MarineBadger said:
Thank you for the kind greetings.

And yes I did have to go out and shovel my driveway. It wasn't too bad though, only about 8 inches, maybe 1 foot in some areas where it drifted. Probably will have another inch or two to clean up after its all said and done. My wife is a southern gal, and no suprise here, we are looking to move back down south when out house sells. I liked living in the south, but if we are being honest here, I'm approving this move only for the ability to golf all year round. :)

Here is a more detailed breakdown by position for you all to consider.

QB-Tyler Donovan(5th year Senior, 1st year starter)
TD is a homegrown product. He's not an NFL level QB, but his only goal in life was to play QB for the Badgers. He spent alot of years here, and finally got his chance this year. He is a mobile QB, but he's not anything like Tebow. He's a little undersized at a generous 6'0", but he's got the feet to make plays. His arm isn't exactly a cannon either, but it gets the job done. I'd say his best abilitiy is his toughness and overall athleticism. The kid has heart and plays tough. His biggest liability is he doesn't go through progressions as well as us fans would like.

RB- We'll start with PJ Hill(Redshirt Soph, 2nd year starter). PJ is a power RB. He is about 5'11" and around 225lbs. His running style is good between the tackles. He doesn't have the shiftiness or speed to blow through the line for 70 yard scampers, but he'll get hit and fall forward for 3 more yards, and what looked like a 2 yard gain will be a 5 yard gain. He'll break a few 8-15 yarders as well. He has the most experience in our system, and has decent hands out of the backfield. His biggest asset is knowing the offense and hitting the right hole. His liabilty would be his speed and he is prone to injury. He gained over 1000 yards this year but that was 4 games ago. He got injured against Indiana early, and played only sparingly against Michigan.
Lance Smith (true Sophmore)- Lance Smith is our change of pace back. The guy has some jets. He was PJs backup last year, and figured to be this year. However an offseason altercation with his g/f led him to get suspended for the teams 5 road games this year. He had over 400 yards in backup duty in the other 7 games and averages over 6 yards a carry. His biggest asset is his speed. He can break the 70 yard runs. His biggest asset is his ability to read the hole. He likes to bounce it outside a little too quickly and he has carried the ball loosely at times. If he were more patient and a better pass blocker, he'd probably start.
Zach Brown-(True Freshman) We had a stud recruit of ours(John Clay) have trouble with getting academically qualified, and he had to take summer classes to make our program. He made it, but missed quite a bit of fall pracitce and was behind the curve and so we elected to redshirt him. Zach Brown made his way to the 3rd spot, probably figuring on not playing that much. Well after PJ's injury and Lance Smith suspension, Zach Brown was pressed into action this year as both a starter and a backup depending on which game it was. He did an outstanding job gaining over 500 yards this year. He had a game of over 200 yards, but to be fair that was against Minnesota, who was one of the worst defenses in the country. Zach Brown is neither as powerful as PJ, nor as quick as Lance. But he reads the holes well, and always goes forward. He is a very good blocker in pass protection too, which is the hardest thing for freshman RB to pick up.
I don't know who is starting, and Bielema is known for playing games with the press. So I'll know who the starter is when you do, which will be Jan 1st.

WR-Paul Hubbard(5th year senior, 2nd year starter)
Paul Hubbard came to UW as a track athlete. He came over to the football team, and last year became a starter. He was injured in the second game against UNLV and sat out 4-5 games. He has decent hands, and good speed. His strength is really as a run blocker at the wideout position. I don't know that he has any glaring weaknesses, but he's not a game breaker either. Solid kid.
Kyle Jefferson(True Freshman, 1st year starter)
Another track runner, he was actually recruited to play football here. He was pressed into the starting role when Hubbard went down, and stayed in the starting role when Luke Swan went down for the year. The kid is a beanpole at 6'5" and maybe 180lbs. He has decent hands, and good route running for a kid his height. He is the deep ball threat. He kind of disappeared the last few games, but I couldn't tell you exactly why. My thinking is that Donovan is more comfortable with Beckum and Hubbard than he is with the true frosh. Or prehaps our O coordinator used Kyle to open things underneath. He showed some flashes of a bright future at UW, but he is still a freshman.

TE-Travis Beckum(Junior, 2nd year starter)
Beckum was recruited as a LB when he came to UW, and last year was the first year he ever played TE. This guy is our playmaker. More in the frame of a large WR, he is a pass catching phenom out of the TE position. Too fast for LBs and too big for safeties, he has been a matchup nightmare for defenses the past two years. Great hands, great speed. Near 1000 yards receiving this year, this guy is Donovans favorite target. Our OC will use motion and formations to create mismatches in Beckum's favor. His only detraction is in run blocking, where he is servicable but not a world beater.

OL
In the interest of saving space, and the time honored tradition of OL not getting credit they deserve, I am just going to be brief here.
We have a very big line, that is experienced despite only having 1 senior. We return starters at every position except LT where we lost All-World Joe Thomas to the NFL last year. Redshirt Frosh Gabe Carimi has filled in well for JT, but he has had some freshman mistakes with holds. I want to say off the top of my head we average around 6'6" and 315 across the line, with Carimi being the light in the loafers at 292. The play from this group has been anywhere from average to great, but never bad. Last year we had trouble running on Arkansas 5 man fronts, something I am sure your coaching staff is aware of. However I don't know if you have the personell for it.

Other names/positions worth note
FB Chriss Pressly-Big powerful run blocker. decent hands for a big fellow too.
WR/KR/PR-David Gilreath-True freshman that is tiny but fast. He may be in as the 3rd/4th WR sometimes, but his biggest impact is in the return game. He had issues earlier in the year with PR, but he gained valuable experience, again when Luke Swan went down for the year.
TE Garret Graham-The "other" TE at UW. He is more of a true TE, than Beckum but posseses great hands as well. Mickey Turner is our best blocking TE, and sometimes all three will be out there at the same time.

Ok my wife is bugging me, but I'll return with a synopsis of our D later tonight.
Click to expand...

Another nice analysis
I hated that shovling, we would shovel at night so it wouldn't be so bad in the morning. them have to shovel again before you left for work

good luck on your move
 
#28
#28
Frozen tundra....cry me a river.... :)

Just kidding. Welcome to VN and good posts. If you think your team's tackling has been sub-par this year, wait til you see the Vols.
 
#29
#29
Always nice to have a knowledgeable, well written analysis. Welcome to the board.
 
#30
#30
Nice posts, MarineBadger. Welcome.

I'm a bit worried about what effect all of the impending coaching changes/moves will have on the game.
 
#33
#33
Well for those of you not yet excited by this game, my following presentation of our defense should have you licking your chops to see if you can put up a 50 spot on us.

Let us start off by saying that our defense was supposed to be the strong point of this team. We returned 8 starters from last year when our defense was a top 5 D. All we had to do was replace a MLB, and two safeties. Piece of cake, right? Wrong.

We will start off on the DL. We lost 1 senior, Jamal Cooper, who was a starting DE. More of a pass rush specialist than anything. He had some off the field issues most of his time here, and brought them to the practice field one day. Bielema gave him plenty of chances to redeem himself, but prior to our opener, the kid ran out of rope and was booted from the team. So that was the first strike in many for our DL.

DE's Kurt Ware (5th year senior 1st year starter) and Matt Shaugnessy (Junior 2nd year starter).
Kurt Ware has been on and off the field with some injuries this year. When healthy he is a solid contributor, but he just hasn't been there all season.
Matt Shaugnessy is a great Pro-prospect for next year. He has a good balance of pass rush ability, and playing assignment ball on running plays, especially ones that reverse field back towards him. Due to the nature of your passing game, I don't expect any sacks. Were your passing attack more conventional in its drop back I would be confident they would generate some pressure at times.

DT- Nick Hayden (Senior- 2nd or 3rd year starter, can't remember if he started as a soph) and Mike Newkirk (Red. Junior 1st year starter).

Nick Hayden is a solid DT, and will probably be drafted to the NFL. Good power and assignment sure. He is the leader of this defense. Mike Newkirk was actually a reserve DT, but got pushed out to DE with the departure of Cooper and the injury to Ware. DE was not his natural position and it showed. Putting him out there also depleted our DT of some depth. Jason Chapman was our other starter at DT and he went down with a season ending injury a few weeks back(OSU IIRC). So Newkirk slid back to his natural DT position and Ware came back. Newkirk is a little undersized as a DT, but he plays with a mean streak. This depth behind the line is not that good. The lack of depth showed against OSU as we were tied 17 a piece at OSU in the 4th quarter, and then OSU just ran over us with their power running game. Sadly enough, this is the strength of our D.

LBs
DeAndre Levy(Junior, 2nd year starter at OLB), Elijah Hodge(Red. Soph 1st year starter at MLB), and Jonathon Casillas(Junior, Second year starter at OLB).

This is where disappointment abounded for the Badgers. Both Casillas and Levy were fast, sure tackling LBs last year. Elijah Hodge had shown flashes of brilliance in backup roles last year. It was assumed that Elijah Hodge was going to be an instant upgrade over departed Mark Zalewski. This was not the case.
To be fair, this group has played with some guts. First off both Levy and Hodge have battled pretty much the entire year with nagging injuries. But the tackling angles these fellows have taken this year have been atrocious. Hodge seems to run towards the blocking rather than trying to shed the blocker and stay in his assigned area.
Levy and Casillas have both overpursued at times, and cutbacks were available all year long against this team. This was supposed to be the strength of this team, and it never panned out. Hopefully they are healed up and ready to go. The depth behind them isn't bad, and can spell these guys for a time.

CBs-
Jack Ikegwuonu(Junior second year starter) and Ben Strickland(5th year Senior, no seasons as a starter).
At the beginning of the year Ben Strickland was out dime coverage guy and a special teams contributor. Allen Langford was the starter(with Ikegwuonu we'll call him Ike for short) to begin the season, then went down with a season ending injury. True freshman Aaron Henry took his place and performed admirable for a frosh, and he suffered a season ending injury in practice, jumping over a pile and landing awkwardly. During the course of the year, whether by coach design, or player decision, the corner opposite Ike was lining up way downfield from the receiver. Like not even on the TV screen, thats how far off they played them. I screamed bloody murder more than a few times, wonder just what the @#!% they were doing. When Henry came in, they played it a little closer to the ball, but still a good 5 yards off. you should be drooling right now.
Ike, when he is on, he is a shut down corner. He has been nagged a little bit with some injuries/sickness this year. Most of those were just in game things though, nothing where he missed weeks on end. He only has 1 pick I believe, and thats usually because he doesn't get thrown at. Weird thing is, is he got beat pretty bad by some nobody at Minnesota, after holding the two best receivers in the Big Ten(Manningham and Hardy) to alomst nothing when he had coverage on them. Hopefully an abberation, and not something we will se repeated come Jan 1.
Strickland may not be the fastest guy or the most talented guy, but the kid straps them up and plays his heart out every week, no matter where he is. You'll probably want to pick at him as he is the weaker of the corners. The guy gave up his scholarship for another teammate who needed it this year(due to financial situations). The kid is a class act and competitor.
Should we go nickel or dime coverage I have no idea who you will see out there. Probably Josh Nettles or Kim Royston, both with a little time on the field but we are thin here.

Safeties-
Aubrey Pleseant(Red. Sophmore 1st year Starter)ShaneCarter(Red Sophmore 1st year starter).
Admittedly this was a question mark at the beginning of the season. It continues to be so. After they both redshirted last year together, with the exact same injury, they both apparently skipped out on tackling class with each other as well. Pleaseant is the SS, Carter the FS. Now Carter has 7 picks this year. he can go up there and get it if Ainge hangs it up there. He ought to catch the ball, since he is the younger brother of Cris Carter of the "all he does is catch touchdowns" fame. But the tackling from this position has been abyssmal, if we are being kind. Wrong angles, ankle tackles, no wrapping up, poor in run support, getting fooled by TEs rubbing the DL and running corner routes, these guys have let it all happen. If a big play was broken(and many were), you usually could attribute it to a bad play by a UW safety. Hell, we even gave up the longest passing play in Michigan history when Shane Carter got caught out of position and Manningham went like 98 or 99 yards. If these guys are the starters, I cannot imagine their replacements could be much better. If they were, they'd be starting, unless these guys have some photos of Bielema in compromising positions.

K-Taylor Mehlhaff(Senior- 3rd year starter, might be 4th not sure). Kid can kick the ball. He is able to kick them to the back of the endzone, but I think by coach design, they asked him to kick it a little higher to let the coverage teams get down there. He started the season by kicking it out of the back, but then quit doing so.
He is a good fieldgoal kicker, and was the difference last year in beating Arkansas by kicking a 52 yarder. Pro prospect here.

P- Ken Debauche(5th year senior 3rd year starter)
After an impressive sophmore season, Ken disappointed mightily last year, and is somewhere between that this year. If he's on, he's one of the best in the country, but he just hasn't been consistent this year for me to bank on it being so in the bowl game.
 
#36
#36
Welcome to the board....:hi:

It's always refreshing to see a fan of the opposition post with class, respect and actual knowlege of football....feel free to stop in and post any time, even after the game.

GO VOLS !!!
 
#37
#37
Hello Marine,
Welcome to VN.
I have a brother and a ton of nephews and neices living in Wisconsin. Sister also lived there until her recent passing. Always enjoy my visits there. I love the rolling farm country between Milwaukee and Fon Du Lac. Enjoyed fishing for Northerns in the Horicon Marsh before they poisoned it to kill the trash fish. Hope it recovers so I can fish it again before I get too old. Also come up for the Osh Kosh fly-in ocaasionally. I've contributed to the Oneida Indians pretty well on my visits, too.
Looking forward to a good game Jan 1.
 
#38
#38
Wis. scares me a little. From what I have seen Wis. seems to always play teams tough and we do not play very hard in our bowl games.
 
#44
#44
Well I am not normally that long winded, but I thought I'd detail our team for those of you that do care.

Now onto more discussion.

Where do you guys see yourself in the SEC? Do you see yourselves as an "elite" SEC team, or more of an upper tier SEC team?
I think the perception outside your fan base, and the SEC fan base would put you firmly in the upper tier. Your championship is fading into the past much like UMs, but you can challenge for the SEC crown every couple of years. Right now I would say the perception is LSU and Florida are the elite(yes I know you guys went to the SECCG and they didn't this year, spare me that argument please) with you guys behind them.

For UW, we consider ourselves an upper tier Big Ten team right now. We can't quite crack the UM/OSU hold on the league titles, but we can compete with both of them head to head recently. We generally consider ourselves just outside the elite status in our league, as far as recent history goes(Last15-20 years) historically we know we aren't even close.
 
#45
#45
nice post, you don't appreciate how intelligent your post is compared to most rivals during SEC season. Visit again next season during the middle of season and you will see why you are being complimented.

As to the game...UT by a field goal. So much depends on which VOL team comes to play...the bama rendition or the Georgia rendition.

GO VOLS
 
#46
#46
Marine, I would say that UM and UT are along the same lines. Fading and living off of the 90's. However, I believe that UM will be down for a couple of years until RR recruits the talent he needs to win. I think that you guys should be looking toward the Zookers as I think they are on the rise. RR may be able to implement his spread and as evidenced put up good numbers in the Big 10 in fairly quick fashion (much like Urban did in the SEC biggest difference is that Zook already had speed guys in Gainesville). I point to the struggle that OSU had with Illinois to base this opinion.
 
#47
#47
Marine- enjoyed your posts and analysis.

Hope you don't get offended when the "official make fun of Wisconsin with pictures" thread gets started. Nothing personal. It seems to be a tradition here.
 
#48
#48
MarineBadger said:
Hi there Volnation.

Donovan/UW WRs/TE vs. UT secondary/LBs.
Probably the biggest loss for us this year was Luke Swan, who left midseason with a torn hammy. He was a solid go to receiver, and TDs favorite target. We basically have two track guys at the WR position. Both can fly, but one of them is a thin pencil of a receiver.I have heard you guys have a freshman corner you are all very high on. Where I think we have the clear advantage is with our TEs. Travis Beckum is one of the best in the country, and we utilize him alot. Garret Graham has been a solid pass catcher as well, but he has had a few dropsies lately. You guys lost your best LB for academics, but I don't know how prominently he figured in pass coverage or if he was more of a run stopper?
Slight advantage UW
Click to expand...

I'd call the edge to Tennessee, even missing a starter.

The very clear advantage for Tennessee is both sides of the passing game.

I'm hoping for a very windy day which would make passing difficult. I'd see a better chance of UW winning if that should happen.

The wildcat formation also has me worried. UW hasn't defended the spread worth a darn all season and UT will have had a month to work on it. So I guess if it's windy, I'm also hoping for rain.
:)

Merry Christmas all.
 
#49
#49
I like the fact that there are two Badger fans on here and they disagree on the VN board.
 
#50
#50
BigAppleBucky said:
I'd call the edge to Tennessee, even missing a starter.

The very clear advantage for Tennessee is both sides of the passing game.

I'm hoping for a very windy day which would make passing difficult. I'd see a better chance of UW winning if that should happen.

The wildcat formation also has me worried. UW hasn't defended the spread worth a darn all season and UT will have had a month to work on it. So I guess if it's windy, I'm also hoping for rain.
:)

Merry Christmas all.
Click to expand...

Yeah that wildcat crap can die and go to hell for all I care:banghead2:

I really don't know enough about the vol DL, but with another starter out there I think Donovan has enough time to get the ball in Beckum or Grahams hands with one of their better LBs out.Although if we are passing alot, we will most likely be losing the game. I really only see the advantage for us with the TEs, I don't think our WRs will have a huge impact.
 
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