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The Wisconsin Badgers have been in a groove recently after some early ups and downs, winning their last four games. They’re sitting just outside the AP Top 25 after being unranked for the last eight weeks, and will have a good chance to crack the list should they beat the Penn State Nittany Lions and USC Trojans this week. It was a rougher start for the Badgers, who were winning the games they were supposed to, but couldn’t win any of their first five Quad 1 opportunities. The team struggled defensively, but also had some ugly shooting days, raising questions about whether this team could put it all together. Well, that has come in January, as the Badgers have won four straight since losing to Purdue. That includes a huge road win over the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines, as well as wins over UCLA, Minnesota, and Rutgers. Now, Wisconsin is back in Bracketology predictions, and its season outlook is much different from what it was 45 days ago. A part of the high expectations heading into the season was based on the team’s roster, but also because of the success the staff had last season. That roster was another one filled with newcomers, as Wisconsin lost seven players to the transfer portal and Tyler Wahl to graduation. But, while the Badgers had such a hot start last year, it took longer for them to reach a groove this year. What was the difference? “I don’t know if there was [the same adjustment as last year],” Gard said about the difference of rosters in regards to newcomers. “I mean, I think the other thing you’ve got to keep in mind, it’s not just two players [that were coming in]. The whole roster is basically new, other than Nolan and JB (John Blackwell) and Jack [Janicki]. So last year, JT (John Tonje) was coming into a set roster that had been together for two to five years, so I think that always makes the transition for the newcomer easier. “And I said that last year. I thought our older guys, [Max] Klesmit, [Steven] Crowl, [Carter] Gilmore, I mean, you name it. [Markus] Ilver, [Chris] Hodges made it easier for Tonje, made the on-ramp shorter because there was so much. There’s so much already established here, so not only do this year we have to establish new roles, but we got seven or eight new [players] that are new to the program. So completely different in terms of how the makeup of a team comes together, because last year’s, like I said, had a lot in place already. So it made it easier for JT to come in and get up to speed faster.” A part of that adjustment has been the star guards playing with each other, as John Blackwell and Nick Boyd have been learning how to balance each other’s play styles. It’s a different role for Blackwell, who was thrust into the point guard role last year, and is now in more of a hybrid role playing alongside a unique point guard like Boyd. “I think he’s handled it well,” Greg Gard said of Blackwell adjusting to playing with Boyd. “It definitely was an adjustment period. I think we’re past that. I think we’re over that hump. Anytime you have new players on the roster, there’s going to be an adjustment period, and roles change, and people slide up in the rotation, so to speak, and the responsibilities. “But I think they both have had to adjust, and I think they both have done a good job of understanding how important the other is, and both keeping their aggressiveness and functioning together. 45 days ago, I would have said we’re not in sync with each other. Now, I think I’ve seen a lot of really good play on the floor from both of them.” We’ve seen both guards really take off with big games together over the last few weeks, and the Badgers are now looking a lot better as a team. There’s still quite a bit to work on, which head coach Greg Gard has constantly reminded, but Wisconsin is trending upwards heading into the second half of its Big Ten slate.

The Wisconsin Badgers will have senior outside linebacker Aaron Witt on the roster for the 2026 season, head coach Luke Fickell shared on Wednesday. Witt, a three-star recruit in the Class of 2026, has been through quite the battle throughout his college football career, dealing with injuries and a personal tragedy. Still, through all of the setbacks, Witt has persevered and played in 23 games over the past two seasons, recording 41 total tackles, six tackles for loss, and a sack. Now, he will return for a seventh and final year of college football, as head coach Luke Fickell said it was a decision they felt was best for both sides. “He had a choice, and we had a choice. I mean, that’s just the truth of it,” Fickell said about Witt on Wednesday. But Aaron wanted to be here, and Aaron didn’t want to not be here if he was going to play the game of football. But Aaron also wanted to make sure he was in a position where he could make an impact as much as he possibly could. And, our talks, me and him, and him and Coach Mitch, and him and Coach Tress, and all those things where he was going to play football, I know this: he didn’t want to be anyplace else. And that meant a lot to me. There’s some definite things over the last three years, over the last six years, that we don’t want to lose from here. And I think one of those things in college football is that, ‘hey, how do you continue to keep some of the roots and some of the history that you have?’ And it might be just the history over the last three years, there’s still things that have been built, and there’s things that we’ve done that maybe everybody on the outside [haven’t been] able to see because, you know, everything gets judged on wins and losses. “But there has been some things that have been built, and Aaron Witt has been a part of that. And so for him to want to be here and to continue to be a part of this thing, to recognize this change, in particular, I can’t speak about everybody else’s change, but the nature of the change here with 50 new faces and to want to be a part of that, to keep building and some of the things that we’ve done. To me, that was another part of that culture that we want to continue to build from. And Aaron Witt’s a big part of that. He knows that maybe positionally, he may be in a little bit of different spot. He has bounced around with his injuries, but there’s a lot of things that Aaron provides just playing the game of football, but also a culture of the things that we’re still building.” As for what position he could play, Fickell mentioned that he’ll be more in the linebacker room with his size around 240-245 pounds. “We’re going to put him more in the linebacker room. He had gone back and forth at what’s the best opportunity for him to be able to get on the field and play more, and again, we felt like it wasn’t getting bigger and trying to play a little bit more with his hand on the ground and closer to line scrimmage. It was more of his ability to kind of be at the 240-245 pound range, where it’s better on his body. He can physically probably play a little bit longer at that position. “Not that Aaron Witt can’t play at any position, but like, there is a point in time when your body can’t do the things that your mind wants it to do. And so playing down on the line of scrimmage is probably going to put him in a position where I’m not sure his body was going to allow him to do the things his mind wants to do. And ultimately, especially with those older guys, we got to give them the opportunity to get themselves on the field and stay on the field. And so he’ll be playing linebacker for the most part.” Witt initially joined the Badgers during the COVID season in 2020 and played in five of the team’s seven games as a true freshman, recording three tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble. But, since…

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