Illinois Football: Breakdown of the 2020 Wisconsin Badgers defense
The Illinois football offense is going to need to put up points if the program wants to start 1-0 this season.
Wisconsin traditionally has a great defense that doesn’t give up much in the way of points or yards, but this is the season they might take a step backward.
Here is the breakdown of the 2020 Wisconsin Badgers defense.
Defensive Line
The Wisconsin Badgers usually come into a season with a great defensive line that has a ton of depth. That doesn’t seem to be the case in 2020.
I would say the anchor of the Wisconsin defensive line is defensive end, Isaiahh Loudermilk. The 6-foot-7 monster enters his senior year after playing in 34 career games and starting in 20 of those contests at defensive end.
Loudermilk had a solid 2019 season with 24 tackles, 3 sacks and 4 pass deflections. Look for him to give Illinois’ offensive line the most trouble on Friday. On the other side of the defensive line, you will likely find fellow senior, Garrett Rand.
Rand isn’t nearly as big as Loudermilk, only standing at 6-foot-2, but the kid has been a beast his entire career. In 2019, Rand finished with 27 tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. I have him pegged as a starting defensive end alongside Loudermilk.
Wisconsin runs more of a 3-4 scheme on the defensive side of the ball, so their nose tackle looks to be, Keeanu Benton. A relatively young lineman, the sophomore is coming off a freshman campaign that saw him play in 13 games and start in six of those contests at nose tackle for the Badgers.
In 2019, Benton had a solid year with 12 tackles and 2 sacks, but Wisconsin is going to need him to be more of a presence if they want to consistently stop the running game of Big Ten opponents.
One of the issues I see with the Wisconsin defensive line is the lack of depth. Behind these three defensive linemen, there isn’t much experience. At defensive end, only Matt Henningsen has true experience as he has played in 27 games with 15 starts. The backup at nose tackle should be Bryson Williams, who only has 19 games under his belt. Beyond these two, there isn’t much else in the way of experience.