Spring Forward: Who’s ready to take next step for Badgers’ defense?
March 30, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas, Varsity Magazine
Leonhard will look to large cast as he seeks to find replacements for veterans at each level
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Sports were seasonal for Jim Leonhard.
Football in the fall. Basketball in the winter. Baseball in the spring and summer.
"Being a three-sport kid in high school," he said, "you never focused on something for more than the season. It was always from one sport to the next to the next."
Leonhard starred in all three at Flambeau High School in Tony, Wisconsin. It wasn't until he joined the Badgers football program as a walk-on that he fully invested in one sport.
All these years later, Leonhard's first spring on the practice field still resonates with him as the UW defensive coordinator, a title that he has held the last two seasons.
"Coming out of that spring (in 2002), I knew I was going to have a role and I knew it was going to be significant — I just didn't know what it was because I wasn't starting at the time," said Leonhard, who saw most of his action as a true freshman on special teams, collecting 12 tackles in 12 games.
"I knew that I proved to the coaches that I belonged on the field in some capacity and it ended up being much bigger once fall camp rolled around. I gained a lot of trust from my teammates (that first spring). I knew it and I could feel it and it re-energized me going into the summer."
That September, he felt emboldened. "It was the finish of the first year of the cycle for me," he said. "I was just able to play football for a year and from the knowledge of the game — and physically — I was able to take a step forward because I had trained for football for an entire offseason."
🚫✈️🏈 DBs getting after it this spring #OnWisconsin // #Badgers
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 29, 2019
The results speak for themselves. As a sophomore, Leonhard had 99 tackles, led the nation in interceptions (11) and was recognized as a first-team All-America safety by CNN/SI.com. He was also second in the Big Ten in punt returns and the first soph to be named Wisconsin's team MVP in 55 years.
"My first spring here," he reflected, "was a big-time confidence boost."
Does his past experience have application to the players that he's now coaching? A player like inside linebacker Jack Sanborn who lettered on special teams? A player like cornerback Rachad Wildgoose who started five games? Both are freshmen going through their first spring practice.
"Absolutely," he enthused. "To me, that first spring you should learn a lot. By the time your second spring ends, then you should have the confidence to say, 'Now let's go make plays.'
"Once you're a junior and senior, you're just fine-tuning things in the spring, you're getting details down. In a lot of cases, you've played. And if you haven't played, you're really hungry at that point to seek those roles and earn more playing opportunities."
Spring practice, he concluded, "Means something a little different for everybody."
As a whole, the spring can be meaningful and telling if for no other reason than fact-finding.
"Going into spring ball," he said, "there are always a ton of questions."
The search for answers has, thus, begun anew on the Madison campus.
"As coaches this gets you excited," said Leonhard. "You're going to be able to answer some of these things that you don't know right now. Who are going to be the leaders? Who's going to step up? Roles change every year; responsibilities get bigger or smaller in some cases.
"You're always trying to find out, 'What's best for this group?'
"You get 15 practices to start yourself on that path."
▪️ Your first look at this year's team ▪️ Badger Sports Kids' Fair ▪️ Hear from Barry Alvarez ▪️ Watch an open football practice Yep, we've got it all planned out for Badger fans on April 13. Join us! More details and info 👇
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 28, 2019
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At the end of last season, Leonhard identified "Guys who physically needed to take a jump." Following their progression since then, he conceded, "You have an idea based on the winter conditioning. But can they put it on the field now?"
A lot of players made offseason gains, Leonhard confirmed.
"There are guys who physically look different this spring and have improved their bodies," he went on. "And they've spent a lot of time on the mental side of the game. Now, can you take the next step? Can you start where you ended the year and not take steps back? Can you continue to improve?
"I never like to place a guy at the next step until they put it on the field."
Not only must Leonhard find replacements for on-field difference-makers at each level of the defense — Olive Sagapolu on the defensive line, T.J. Edwards, Ryan Connelly and Andrew Van Ginkel at linebacker, D'Cota Dixon at safety — but he must also fill the leadership void from their departures.
"It's easy to say that a guy like Chris Orr we're counting on as a leader," Leonhard said. "He has been in the program for a long time. He has had experience and success on the field. He's very vocal and he has been a leader in the past. To me, you always start out with the guys who have done it before.
"You're always then trying to develop leadership in that next group. Guys understand that it doesn't matter what you've done on the field. If you consistently do the right things, if you care about your teammates, you can lead – and guys will follow."
Besides Orr, who has started 16 games at inside linebacker, Zack Baun was the other appointed defensive captain during the winter conditioning phase. Baun started all 13 games at outside linebacker last season after being sidelined by an injury in 2017. Both Orr and Baun will be fifth-year seniors.
Leonhard believes that Garrett Rand, who sat out last year with an injury, can bring some leadership to the defensive line. "Having a guy like that in the D-line room is going to be big," he said. "He'll be limited (this spring). We're going to be smart and bring him back at his pace."
Rand can play nose or defensive end. He has yet to start a game, but he has appeared in 28. Meanwhile, the Badgers are hoping to get a full season out of 6-7, 307-pound Isaiahh Loudermilk, who was limited by injuries to nine games and five starts in '18.
"He was a guy who improved and then hit roadblocks physically — you just want to make sure he continues to go down the right path," said Leonhard, adding that rising sophomores Matt Henningsen and Bryson Williams gained valuable reps by starting seven and five games, respectively.
"Does he (Henningsen) have to be a leader like Olive was a leader the year before? No. But his experience and what he learned in that process can help the (D-line) room. Bryson is another guy who stepped up and played well. Can you now take that next step physically and as a leader?'
▪️We're back to blessing your timeline with football again 🙏🏈 #OnWisconsin
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) March 27, 2019
There may be another Isaiah in the rotation — Isaiah Mullens, who redshirted as a freshman.
"You knew he was a raw athlete; the physical tools were there," Leonhard said. "During bowl prep, it was awesome to see the confidence and the physicality that he was playing with because the understanding was much higher. He now has to have a big spring.
"There are a number of guys very similar to that. What you saw and thought of them in fall camp and what you saw in bowl prep, you got really excited. Can they carry that confidence over? Can they start there? Or are they taking steps back?"
One of the position switches on defense has Griffin Grady, a redshirt junior, moving from inside linebacker to outside 'backer. Leonhard likes the speed that he plays with. While serving as a backup and special teams player, Grady has 10 tackles in 21 career games.
"He's got good length and size and can do some things rushing the passer," Leonhard said. "He's going to have a few more opportunities to do that on the edge."
Leonhard is working with a couple of early enrollees from the recruiting class of 2019: inside linebacker Leo Chenal from Grantsburg (Wisconsin) High School (290 miles northwest of Madison) and outside linebacker Spencer Lytle from St. John Bosco in Redondo Beach, California.
"Both of them are very smart. They've put in the time," Leonhard said. "They've spent numerous hours on their own just trying to get a head start mentally knowing that they're the only new guys on defense. We're not necessarily going at their pace, we're going at everyone else's pace.
"The faster that they can get comfortable just to play football is the goal."
As the secondary coach, Leonhard has a deep appreciation for Dixon's loss. On and off the field.
"We knew how special he was," he said. "D'Cota was so next level as far as his leadership. You're now trying to fill that role with a number of guys. They don't have to be him. And we're not asking anyone to be him. But we need to get the same type of leadership from a number of places.
"A lot of those corners played and played significant time and made some plays. So now it's the consistency of it and taking those next steps as far as confidence. It's the same with the safeties. A lot of guys touched the field. Now you have to be confident in how you direct the things in front of you."
The Badgers used 10 different starters in the secondary the last eight games. Wildgoose, Faion Hicks, Caesar Williams, Deron Harrell, Madison Cone and Donte Burton are the returning corners with starting experience. Scott Nelson, Eric Burrell and Reggie Pearson are the safeties who are back.
Four true freshmen — Burton, Pearson, Travian Blaylock and Alexander Smith — saw action in fewer than five games and didn't lose a season of eligibility in compliance with a new NCAA rule. Collin Wilder redshirted last fall after transferring from Houston. He's in the mix this spring, too.
How will all these pieces fall into place between now and April 26, the final practice?
"That's the fun part of the spring," said the 36-year-old Leonhard. "These guys started in the winter taking that next step for the fall. Spring ball is obviously that next test. What did they do to play faster? To play more confident? To play more physical? Now is when those answers come."
