Tippmann developed into UW’s No. 1 center
MADISON – Wisconsin's Joe Tippmann got his first taste of college football in 2020.
Consider it enough to fill a teaspoon.
After redshirting in 2019, Tippmann made his debut in the fourth quarter at Michigan last season and played about a dozen snaps at right guard. He was also on
UW's point-after and field goal unit against Northwestern, which got minimal action in
UW's 17-7 loss to the Wildcats.
Tippmann did not play in the other five games, largely because he wasn't healthy.
Now fully recovered from a right shoulder injury that affected his play and left him a bit timid, the redshirt sophomore is set to start at center when UW hosts Penn State on Saturday.
“I feel so much better, just being able to use my shoulders completely again,” Tippmann said. “Last season I always felt like I was playing scared. I kept my arms in tight because I wanted to keep my arm safe.
“Now I can just cut everything loose and I think that really showed up in (camp).”
Tippmann, 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, opened camp as the No. 2 center behind returning starter Kayden Lyles.
Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph changed the pecking order one day after Tippmann had a terrific performance on Aug. 13, the seventh practice of camp. Tippmann moved up to the No. 1 unit and Lyles anchored the second unit.
“He is one we always were impressed with and thought he had really good ability,” head coach Paul Chryst said. “This fall camp was going to be really important for him and you could kind of see him take the steps needed each day and grow.
“He's still got a ton of stuff to continue to do but he takes the coaching points and wants to apply them. That part has been fun to watch.”
Tippmann's rapid development has been impressive because in the spring he was limited to snapping during seven-on-seven passing segments (skelly). He wasn't cleared for full-contact work until May 1.
“It was … it was terrible,” he said when asked about being limited in the spring. “Coach Chryst let me get out there and snap the ball for skelly. That was good but it wasn't like hitting guys. Everyone was out there, cheering each other on and making big plays.” And Tippmann?
“I wished I was out there,” he said. “It was like I was a fan.”
Tippmann, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, chose UW over offers from Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota and Cincinnati.
He has size, strength and is mobile for a player who is well over 300 pounds.
“He is just so physical,” left tackle Tyler Beach said, “and he is a really athletic guy.”
Those traits were on display in his college debut at Michigan.
Fullback John Chenal took a handoff from quarterback Danny Vanden Boom on a belly call and ran behind the block of Tippmann, who walled off the defensive tackle. Chenal gained 43 yards to Michigan 29 to set up UW’s final score.
“He had an amazing block,” Beach said. “We were watching it the whole year.”
Tippmann did have to address two areas of his game.
The first: shotgun snaps. Tippmann was a tackle in high school and his first experience with shotgun snaps at UW wasn’t pretty.
“It was definitely different,” he said. “Coach Rudy had to take me through it. There are different ways you can snap the ball and we had to find the way that was right for me and then just kind of build it up from there.”
Tippmann, who lives with quarterback Graham Mertz, conceded he struggled snapping early this camp.
“I was just getting my feet back underneath me,” he said, referring to the fact he missed full-contact work in the spring. “I think I once I got confident being back on the field, then my snaps came along.”
The second area of his game: His hairstyle.
Tippmann arrived at UW with wavy hair and a headband. Tippmann quickly learned from his fellow linemen that the waves and headband had to go.
“We always called him croissant head because his hair was so wavy,” Beach said, laughing. “I think it was Jon Dietzen who photoshopped a picture of a croissant on his head.
“It was hilarious.”
After getting a modest helping of college football last season, Tippmann appears in position to be a critical contributor in 2021.
“I 100% did not expect to play my first year, which I didn’t,” he said. “I knew that I would need a lot of development. This is Wisconsin. Generally you don’t come in and play as a freshman.
“But I knew there was definitely playing time in my future.”