By Adam Roberts – 10/1/2020
With so much going on (and at the same time, not) in the high school sports world, plus a Brewers’ playoff series, and Packers and Vikings news, college football in this area can be easy to forget about. I certainly wouldn’t blame you; there hasn’t been any college football played and very little practice work to report on.
That changed yesterday as the Badgers returned to the field in pads. It was their first practice work since the team was forced to stop practices earlier this year when the Big Ten announced it would play spring football in 2021.
That is no longer the case, and with Badger football about three weeks away, the team has a lot of ground to cover in a short time.
“There’s been a different rhythm to this whole year” head coach Paul Chryst said yesterday, referring to how summer has been full of wondering and will they/won’t they speculation. “I think it’s trying to find that perfect balance of how much you’re doing with them, and you’re still getting ready to play a season. And yet with the way the offseason has gone…it’s not like you’re coming just off of a really consistent summer program. And now you’re going into camp.”
One group hoping for more consistency than the scheduling process is #19 Wisconsin’s running back corps, who this year will be tasked by fans and the media with filling the shoes of now-Colt Jonathan Taylor. Chryst wants the backs to not think of it as trying to fill JT’s shoes, but remember what standard he set for how to conduct yourself at the position. “One of the gifts that JT gave us was ‘How do [I] approach things?'”
The team is also very excited to have Jon Dietzen back on the field. The lineman had stepped away from football last year due to accumulating injuries, but was out practicing yesterday and will be on the field for 2020. “I loved it, it’s been fun to see him out there” Chryst said. “Moving really well…there was a feeling when he made the [2019] decision that he couldn’t do it again, so there’s an excitement for that.”
Wisconsin begins the 2020 season October 24th at home against Illinois; we’ll have the game on ESPN La Crosse 105.5, espnlacrosse.com, and on TuneIn!