College Football

Wisconsin's new era? Defense rules Badgers' first spring game under Luke Fickell

Updated Apr. 22, 2023 9:42 p.m. ET

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Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

MADISON, Wis. — The public unveiling of the Luke Fickell era at Wisconsin was met with cheeky cooperation by whoever controls the forecast for this spit of land between two lakes. There was football to be played at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, and that alone necessitated football weather.

Five months after Fickell left Cincinnati to take control at Wisconsin, he led the Badgers onto the field for a public practice dubbed "The Launch" that was overtaken by snow squalls, sleet, and swirling winds reminiscent of late October and November, in the final few weeks of a college football season in Madison. But this was April 22, a point in the semester by which the student body tends to migrate outdoors. The adverse conditions favored Wisconsin's defense on an afternoon when many of the roughly 10,000 fans in attendance hoped for shimmering views of the Air Raid system installed by new offensive coordinator Phil Longo.

A half-hour of positional drills gave way to an extended 11-on-11 scrimmage featuring 20-minute halves, an alternative scoring format and, at times, situational work manufactured by the coaching staff. Period to period, scenario to scenario, the defense designed by Fickell and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel held the upper hand, with five interceptions, at least 10 sacks, and a 33-24 victory in which no official stats were kept and after which nobody from the program addressed the media.  

Here are some observations from the team's 13th spring practice: 

Passing game still searching for rhythm 

Former SMU and Oklahoma quarterback Tanner Mordecai transferred to Wisconsin in late December with an expectation of winning the starting job for what will be his sixth and final season of eligibility. Mordecai, who will turn 24 in November, had thrown for more than 7,000 combined yards and 72 touchdowns the last two seasons at SMU and would provide the Badgers with enough experience and leadership to navigate their transition to a new regime.  

By all accounts, Mordecai has blended into the Wisconsin locker room with ease. His work ethic and maturity won the respect of teammates on both sides of the ball, and Mordecai is a natural mentor for younger transfer quarterbacks Braedyn Locke from Mississippi State and Nick Evers from Oklahoma. He's taken most of the first-team reps throughout the spring.

But Saturday's scrimmage offered an underwhelming first impression to the fan base in a performance Mordecai will likely want to forget. He opened the 11-on-11 period with three consecutive interceptions against the first-string defense and finished the afternoon having thrown four of the offense's five total picks. Coupled with another subpar showing earlier in the week, Mordecai has now thrown seven interceptions in Wisconsin's last two practices.

Of greater concern than the interceptions themselves were some of the decisions Mordecai made to fling passes into crowded areas of the field. His first miscue of the game was an overthrow into a collection of defenders that blanketed the intended receiver, and safety Kamo'i Latu made an uncontested play on the ball. His next ill-conceived pass into traffic was snagged by cornerback Ricardo Hallman on the next possession. Only Mordecai's fourth interception could have the blame apportioned after the ball ricocheted off the hands of wideout CJ Williams, a highly-touted transfer from USC.  

As Mordecai struggled, tailbacks Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi continued to produce the most reliable gains for the starting offense — just as they did in 2022. Allen and Mellusi began ripping off yards in chunks late in the first half and early in the second half of Saturday's scrimmage to prove how quickly they've adjusted to running out of shotgun formations in Longo's new system. They're hoping to become the first pair of Badgers tailbacks to top 1,000 rushing yards in the same season since Melvin Gordon (1,609 yards) and James White (1,444 yards) did it in 2013.

Together they form one of the better running back tandems in a league that will be full of them this fall: Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards at Michigan; TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams at Ohio State; Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen at Penn State.

Ball-hawking defense on display 

On April 13, after his team's ninth practice of the spring, Fickell met with the local media for an on-field interview. Among the questions posed to him was a query about Hallman, a budding defensive back and one of the team's better performers in the last few months. Fickell said Hallman had been "as consistent as anybody" on a daily basis.  

Fast-forward to "The Launch" and Hallman was arguably the best player on the field regardless of position. He snared three of the defense's five interceptions on Saturday — all of them coming at the expense of Mordecai — and flashed the kind of airtight coverage and open-field tackling required of a true No. 1 cornerback.  

The uptick in performance represents a significant step forward for a player who logged just 341 snaps last season — a little more than half the amount of starting corner Jay Shaw (573 snaps). That Hallman only played 29 snaps as a true freshman in 2021 speaks to how much he's grown in a relatively short period of time.  

His first interception in Saturday's open practice was a gift from Mordecai, a poorly thrown ball down the middle that sailed well beyond the intended target. But his second interception was a one-handed, over-the-shoulder grab in tight coverage against No. 1 receiver Chimere Dike that would be near the beginning of any defensive back's highlight reel. Hallman capped his afternoon by alertly snatching a tipped pass in the second half.

Tressel's defense paired ruthless opportunism on the back end with a torrent of interior pressure that bothered Mordecai, Locke, Evers and Marshall Howe — the top four quarterbacks on Wisconsin's depth chart. Longo's system calls for larger splits between the offensive linemen than the pro-style scheme the Badgers ran under former coach Paul Chryst, and on Saturday the defense feasted on those wider alleys to collapse the pocket. The inside linebackers and defensive tackles routinely barreled through the protection to "sack" the quarterbacks, all of whom were off-limits to live contact. 

All told, Tressel's unit turned in an excellent day of work while showing just how far the offense has to go.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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College Football

Big Ten

Wisconsin Badgers

Tanner Mordecai

Ricardo Hallman

Kamo'i Latu

C.J. Williams

Braelon Allen

Chez Mellusi

Jay Shaw

Michael Cohen