Line renovation progressing.
Line will be more experienced, should be deeper in 2017
First in a nine-part Badgers by Position series.
MADISON – When coach Paul Chryst studies the individual pieces of the offensive line and sizes up the quality and depth of the unit overall, he knows progress has been made in the last two seasons.
Chryst also believes the unit isn’t where it needs to be and hasn’t returned to the level it achieved when he was UW’s offensive coordinator from 2005 through ’11.
“I think we still have a ways to go,” Chryst said. “If you go back, there’s a lot of guys that were good players for us that got their first starts as redshirt juniors.”
Redshirt junior Michael Deiter, who enters camp as the leader of the unit, has 27 starts. Deiter has 16 at center and 11 at left guard and could wind up at either position this season depending on what offensive line coach Joe Rudolph and Chryst see in camp.
“It doesn’t matter,” Deiter said, “and I don’t really consider myself one or the other. I’m a hybrid.”
When Chryst, Rudolph and strength and conditioning coordinator Ross Kolodziej returned to UW from Pittsburgh before the 2015 season, one of the more important tasks was to build the line back up to UW standards.
The number of scholarship linemen was down, an issue Gary Andersen was saddled with when he arrived from Utah State in 2014.
Andersen’s staff started with just 12 scholarship linemen, including three freshmen.
Their efforts to build up the numbers were thwarted by medical problems that claimed five prospects.
UW currently has 15 scholarship linemen, including four freshmen. The Badgers lost George Panos to injury last year, and Kevin Estes, who could not get his weight above the 270 mark, left the team last spring.
Diligent work in the weight room has helped the players recoup the gains they failed to make in two years under Andersen.
“The guys are putting the time in in the weight room,” Chryst said. “They are putting the time in in the film room. And certainly are putting the time in at practice.
“I think it has been a good progression for those guys. They can only do what you’re asking them to do and do their best. I think they are giving that.”
The unit will be more experienced, thanks to the growing pains of the previous two seasons, and should be deeper in 2017.
Barring injury, that should lead to a more stable starting five.
In 2015 UW used seven starting combinations in 13 games. Last season the Badgers trimmed that number to four in 14 games, all in the first eight games.
The unit that started in Week 8 against visiting Nebraska — Ryan Ramczyk at left tackle, Jon Dietzen at left guard, Deiter at center, Beau Benzschawel at right guard and David Edwards at right tackle — stayed intact for the remainder of the season.
UW’s top unit will be different in 2017.
Edwards was moved to left tackle before the start of spring practice and appeared to be performing well until he missed the final week because of a left ankle injury.
Deiter filled in for Edwards for the final three practices but spent the bulk of the spring splitting time between center and left guard.
Deiter moved to left guard so redshirt freshman Tyler Biadasz could get extensive work at center.
“I’m competing for a starting job at center,” Biadasz said.
If the staff believes Biadasz is among the top five linemen and needs to play, an easy solution will be to move Deiter to left guard.
Benzschawel appears locked in at right guard. The battle to start at right tackle should be between Maxwell, who last season started the first seven games before a shoulder injury ended his season, and redshirt freshman Patrick Kasl.
“For him to come out and challenge Maxwell when Maxwell comes back is going to be great,” Benzschawel said. “Competition is great.”
If Deiter remains at center with Biadasz as his backup, Dietzen and Micah Kapoi likely will vie to start at left guard.
Regardless of who starts in the opener Sept. 1 against Utah State, the linemen expect the unit to take another step forward.
“We want to be the best offensive line we can be,” Edwards said. “Whether that is best in the Big Ten or more, it starts with creating a vision with that in mind, that end goal.”