Illinois Football: Breakdown of the 2020 Wisconsin Badgers defense
Linebacker
I would say the biggest hit to the Wisconsin defense comes at linebacker. The Badgers lost two of their best linebackers to graduation this offseason.
Chris Orr finished his 2019 campaign with 78 tackles, 11.5 sacks and 5 pass deflections. He ranked second on the team in both tackles and sacks and was fifth on the team in pass deflections.
Zack Baun was another member of the linebacker corps that departed the program. Baun finished his 2019 season with 76 tackles, 12.5 sacks and 1 interception. He ranked third on the team in tackles and led the Badgers in sacks.
That is a lot of production to replace. But Wisconsin does have some talent returning too. Jack Sanborn is the main linebacker ready to suit up for the 2020 season. He finished last year with 80 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 3 interceptions. He led the team in tackles and interceptions and was third on the team in sacks.
The experience drops off at middle linebacker after Sanborn, though. The two other options for Wisconsin would be Leo Chenal and Mike Maskalunas. Maskalunas has the most experience by playing in 36 games during his career, but Chenal seems like the kid that has more potential. Chenal played in 11 games as a freshman in 2019.
On the outside, the Badgers are dealing with the same thing as they are dealing with when it comes to the inside linebackers. Noah Burks anchors the Wisconsin outside linebackers. The 6-foot-2 Carmel native has played in 35 games with 12 starts at linebacker. His experience is going to be invaluable to this team.
Wisconsin’s other starting outside linebacker is most likely going to be Izayah Green-May considering he has the most experience. Playing in 18 games with one start at outside linebacker, Green-May seems to have the inside edge for the starting position. But Wisconsin did bring in four-star Nick Herbig to compete for the job. I am just not sure he is ready to take the reins, though.
CJ Goetz is one of the backups for the Badgers as well, but most of his experience is via special teams. He doesn’t have much playing time at linebacker.
There are some real depth issues with Wisconsin at linebacker. The first and second level of the Badgers defense is not as strong as it usually is to start the season.