Rand, Loudermilk finally team up
MADISON – Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk have been friends since they became teammates at Wisconsin in 2016.
The talented defensive ends hoped the 2018 season would mark their first time together in the starting lineup, bookends for nose tackle Olive Sagapolu.
Those dreams ended when Rand suffered an Achilles injury during summer workouts and missed the season.
The waiting should end Friday for the redshirt juniors, however, when UW opens the 2019 season at 6 p.m. at South Florida.
Rand and Loudermilk are the starting ends, bookends for sophomore nose tackle Bryson Williams.
“We live in the same house together,” Rand said this week when asked about his relationship with Loudermilk. “We talk about it all the time.
“It is finally happening. We're both really excited.”
Loudermilk, 6-foot-7 and 293 pounds, missed four games last season because of knee and ankle injuries. He missed time in camp this month after suffering a left arm injury but returned to practice last week.
He has flashed as a reserve but he knows what defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield wants to see this season.
“I think one thing he expects this year, with me being fully healthy, is to be explosive,” Loudermilk said. “To be someone who goes out there and gives everything on every single play. I'm not going to take a play off. I'm not going to give up on a play.
“I am going to make sure I make the most of every single rep.
“I just want to be the best player that I can be this year.”
Rand, 6-2 and 279, played mostly nose tackle in his first two seasons because of the team's personnel needs. He was excited to move outside last season. A year lost to injury has heightened that excitement.
Breckterfield's message to Rand: attack.
“He is trying to make me just go eat,” Rand said, grinning. “My mentality is to get off the ball, just go up the field and wreak havoc.
“It's new, definitely new. Nose guard you're definitely not going to wreak havoc. You're just going to eat up the double-team.
“I mean, I've always wanted to just go out and eat and have fun. I finally get my moment. Hopefully I do my job and it works.”
No one – including Rand, Loudermilk and head coach Paul Chryst – can predict how well the new bookends will fare this season.
“It's kind of really hard to tell right now until we both get in game situations,” Loudermilk acknowledged. “We've been practicing and it's been a blast. It's been fun playing with him.
“But until we get into game situations … then we'll really know. But I think we'll be able to do pretty good things this year.”
Can the duo stay healthy all season? Can they help UW control the line of scrimmage against the run? Can they force opposing quarterbacks to get happy feet in the pocket?
All to be determined.
“I'm excited about what it could be,” Chryst said. “Do we know it? No…I think we've got a picture in our mind what it could be.
"To be able to do it over the course of time, I think that will be one of the stories of the year. How does that turn out?”