The Wisconsin Badgers open their season against the Western Michigan Broncos on Friday night at Camp Randall Stadium and hope to start the season with a win.
Before the game, Wisconsin is considered the favorite with a 23-point lead against Western Michigan, with the over/under limit set at 56 points.
Here are my top 3 Badgers to watch this Friday night against Western Michigan.
Riley Nowakovsky
Riley Nowakowski played very little last season, but I expect him to play a much bigger role in Wisconsin’s offense this year.
During his time in Miami, Tyler Van Dyke made a real effort to include tight end Will Mallory in most plays and I expect him to do the same with Nowakowski.
I also chose Nowakowski because Western Michigan’s biggest weakness is their lackluster linebacker core. I expect Phil Longo to look to attack them up the middle, using most of the Badgers’ receiver core, especially Nowakowski.
Jaheim Thomas
Jaheim Thomas was a great defender during his time in Cincinnati under current Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, and he improved tremendously during his one-year stint at Arkansas.
Thomas brings a lot of much-needed experience to the Badgers’ linebacker corps. He will be extremely important in games like the upcoming matchup against Western Michigan when the opposing team has a good running back in the backfield.
Thomas was successful at stopping the run during his time at Arkansas, even recording 10-plus tackles in three different SEC games last season against Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU. All three of those teams finished ranked in the AP Top 25 poll.
If the Badgers are to sign Western Michigan running back Jalen Buckley, they will have to rely on Jaheim Thomas to provide stops up the middle.
Tyler Van Dyke
Naming the team’s starting quarterback as one of the Badgers to watch is very boring, I admit. However, I chose Van Dyke for a more nuanced reason.
One of Van Dyke’s offseason goals was to become more mobile in the pocket. I expect Phil Longo to look to put Van Dyke’s arm talent to good use by attacking Western Michigan defenders both in the middle and downfield.
Van Dyke has had three different offensive coordinators in four seasons and has been inconsistent given the lack of stability in his teams’ coaching staffs. It will be crucial for Wisconsin to get off to a good start and restore Van Dyke’s confidence early in the season.
