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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Who had the best spring on offense? Who jumped out on that side of the ball?
"That's a good question, actually," Alec James admitted.
Who better to answer the question than someone on the other side of the ball?
James, a defensive lineman, was more than willing to offer a first take.
"I would say a lot of the receivers," observed James, a fifth-year senior. "It seems like as a core group they've gotten a lot better this spring, even with Rob leaving. That stood out to me."
Rob is Robert Wheelwright, who was Wisconsin's third-leading receiver with 34 catches for 448 yards and one touchdown last season. Wheelwright was the only graduation loss among the wideouts. Appearing in 47 games, he finished his career with 69 catches for 890 yards and six touchdowns.
Of the newcomers looking to get Wheelwright's snaps, Kendrick Pryor drew the attention of safety D'Cota Dixon and cornerback Nick Nelson. Pryor, who redshirted as a freshman in 2016, had a couple of receptions in the 15th and final practice of the spring Friday night at Camp Randall Stadium.
"Kendrick stood out," Dixon said.
There weren't many highlights during the 60-minute scrimmage, outside of maybe head coach Paul Chryst instructing cornerback Derrick Tindal on how to properly wear headsets on the sideline. That was amusing; at least Chryst seemed amused. Most of the starters, like Tindal, got the night off.
But the 5-foot-11 Pryor had his moments. On one play, he measured his distance from the boundary and timed his leap to snare a pass from freshman quarterback Jack Coan. Safety Evan Bondoc had tight coverage. But the throw was right on the hands of Pryor, who nimbly got one foot down before going out of bounds.
"He (Pryor) actually got a lot better this spring," Dixon said. "He improved a lot since last year."
Nelson, the Hawaii transfer, felt that Pryor and sophomore Quintez Cephus helped themselves with how they practiced and performed. But, then, Nelson had this caveat, "I already knew what they could do, though. It didn't really surprise me. I already knew that they were pretty good."
Dixon knew the same thing about Cephus, who had four catches last fall. "I call him a little Julio Jones," said Dixon, referencing the All-Pro receiver from Cephus' home-state team, the Atlanta Falcons. Cephus is from Macon, Georgia. "Q," Dixon went on, "is going to be special one day. He's a young bull."
With a heavy heart. In early April, Cephus' dad, Andre Taylor, 39, was shot and killed outside of a Macon convenience store. Cephus flew home twice during the month and his teammates rallied around him. Cephus and A.J. Taylor both lettered as true freshmen and will be factors in the rotation.
Meanwhile, Jazz Peavy will be one of the most dangerous returning wide receivers in the Big Ten because of his ability to impact the outcome of a game with his receiving (43 catches for 635 yards and 5 touchdowns) and his running (21 rushes for 318 yards and one TD on the jet sweep).
But who will be the No. 2 WR behind Peavy? One candidate will be senior George Rushing.
"George is going to ball," Dixon assured. "He plays hard regardless."
What about a wild card among the wide receivers? A dark horse? An underdog overachiever?
Who else might contribute to whatever degree? Maybe even on special teams if nothing else.
"I would say my little guy Jack Dunn got better," Dixon said of the 5-foot-7 Dunn, a walk-on from Madison Edgewood, where he was an option quarterback. "I think Jack can do anything that he puts his mind to. He just has to be a little more efficient in his route-running. I like Jack a lot."
The receiver who had the best spring catching the ball was not a surprise to anybody.
"Foooom," Nelson bellowed. "Troy Fumagalli."
There may not be a better tight end in college football.
"He's just so hard to check," said Nelson, who was matched against imposing targets in the Mountain West during his two years as a starter for Hawaii. "You can jam him and have good coverage and he'll still catch the ball. There's nothing you can do but just make the tackle (after the catch)."
Dixon sees Fumagalli the same way, especially up close and personal during practices.
"Fumagalli creates problems, the man is a problem," Dixon said with all due respect. "That's why I love guarding Fumagalli because he gets you out of your comfort zone. He's a dependable guy, he's a sure-handed guy. And he does a good job of creating separation.
"There are a lot of times when a lot of us have good coverage on him. And a lot of times, when you put a corner out there, and you put a safety out there, that's good coverage. But he'll just make a better catch. There were multiple one-hand catches that he has been making. So, what do you do?"
Dixon had the same answer as Nelson.
Once he catches the ball, he said, "You go through his hands on the tackle and try to get it out."
When opposing defenses game-plan for Fumagalli with the aforementioned double coverage, it may create some space for Wisconsin's other tight ends, Kyle Penniston and Zander Neuville. Both caught the ball well during Friday's scrimmage in Fumagalli's absence.
"Zander is pretty strong," Nelson said of Neuville, a converted defensive lineman. "He catches the ball pretty good. You've got to bring it against him. Penniston is a little more shifty. But you've got to bring it against him, too. They're both pretty good. But I still like Foom."
Who doesn't? In addition to his receiving skills, Fumagalli's blocking, an underappreciated quality, is critical to Wisconsin's rushing attack, now in the hands of Bradrick Shaw and Chris James, the Pitt transfer. Once Taiwan Deal gets healthy, the Badgers should be well-stocked at tailback.
"I saw a lot of good things out of Chris James," said senior inside linebacker Jack Cichy, who was limited to pass skelly drills and had no contact work this spring. "He's quick and then when he decides on a hole, he puts his foot in the ground and he really goes through there."
Outside linebacker Garret Dooley offered a similar opinion.
"Chris James is very shifty in the open field, we've seen that a lot this spring," said Dooley, who then singled out Shaw, the third-leading rusher behind Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale last fall. "Bradrick can do it all. He can make people miss and he'll run over you."
Shaw's explosiveness was evident on scoring runs against Akron (35 yards) and Nebraska (21).
"Brad is going to do what Brad do," Dixon said. "I found that out last year. He finishes runs."
Comparing Shaw and James, Dixon said, "They do have different running styles. Chris is quick; he's quick and strong and very elusive. Brad is like a horse. Once he gets going, he's going. Chris is more patient in the holes I would probably say. Brad hits the hole real hard."
Any discussion of the running game must include the Wisconsin fullbacks, the "Ramgold" combo of Alec Ingold and Austin Ramesh, who was injured during spring drills. "If we keep those two guys healthy," Dooley said, "we're going to be pretty good."
Ingold, a converted tailback, could be utilized as a third-down back. "He's a real efficient blocker," said Cichy, knowing the importance of picking up blitzers in that role. "He's able to get good hand placement and that's huge for blocking on offense. He does a really good job at that."
On the offensive line, the Badgers have more quality depth than they have had in three seasons. They also have versatility. Michael Deiter, for instance, can play center, guard or tackle. "Deiter is Deiter," Dixon said. "Deiter is tough. He's the leader on the O-line. That's just who he is."
Some young linemen have begun to emerge, starting with freshman redshirt Patrick Kasl, who took most of the snaps at right tackle with the No. 1 unit after David Edwards was moved to left tackle. "He definitely has a lot of potential," said Dooley. "He's a physical kid and I think he has bright future."
So does freshman redshirt center Tyler Biadasz, who could free up Deiter to play elsewhere.
"I didn't go against him as much because he's a center, but watching him on film, it looked like he got a lot better," said Alec James, who also praised Kasl. "He still has to learn some things, but he's definitely on the way to becoming a great player. He did real well. As did Biadasz."
There was one offensive player who stood out above everybody else this spring.
All the defensive players agreed on this, too.
It was quarterback Alex Hornibrook.
"He seems a lot more comfortable back there," Alec James said. "His comfort level seemed a lot better this whole spring. It just seemed like he had better control of the offense."
"Alex has improved since last season," said Dooley. "He does a really good job now of looking off defenders just going through his progressions. In that aspect, he has improved."
Hornibrook is one of seven returning starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten, along with Ohio State's J.T. Barrett, Michigan's Wilton Speight, Penn State's Trace McSorley, Indiana's Richard Lagow, Purdue's David Blough and Northwestern's Clayton Thorson.
"I'll tell you what Alex is doing," Dixon said, "Alex is making me mad."
Dixon smiled before continuing.
"Alex is starting to figure it out," he said. "He's doing a real good job of reading the coverages and reading our disguises because he hasn't given me too many opportunities (to intercept a pass) in all honesty when I really think about it.
"And when I have gotten those opportunities, he has really good placement with the ball. Like I went to slice Foom on a little over-route and with any other person (quarterback), it's probably a dead play because you want to lead it (the pass) out in front of your receiver.
"And the way I was playing the route, I would have intercepted," said Dixon, who was getting more animated. "But the way Alex threw it, as soon as I sliced, he threw back-shoulder and Fumagalli is going to make a crazy play, which he did. It's just so frustrating."
It is frustrating in the spring to a safety like Dixon. But it obviously won't be frustrating in the fall knowing most opponents won't have an answer, either, for Hornibrook and Fumagalli.
