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Luke Fickell identifies two lesser-known breakout players to watch on Wisconsin Badgers defense

Luke Fickell sees two key players stepping into bigger roles on the Wisconsin Badgers defense that makes them strong breakout candidates for 2025.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin safety Austin Brown (9) is shown during spring football practice Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin safety Austin Brown (9) is shown during spring football practice Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers defense has a few key leaders it knows it can rely on.

Luke Fickell has his eyes on a few lesser-known starters who could break out in 2025.

A lot of the attention will go to play-makers like safety Preston Zachman and cornerback Ricardo Hallman, who will be critical to the team's success this season.

But Fickell was asked on the Cover 3 podcast about which other players he thinks will step up this season, and he identified two.

One is senior Austin Brown, who mostly played slot cornerback last season but is set to move back to more of a true safety role next to Zachman.

"(Brown) hasn't been a big-time starter maybe in the last few years, but as talented of a football player as we have on the team," Fickell said. "I really look for him to be a guy that is going to take some of those next steps."

The other name that the head coach identified on his defense was junior linebacker Christian Alliegro.

He was a rotational player last season before he started the final three games, and he's set to lead the interior of a defense that needs to show some significant improvement this year.

"[Alliegro] is more in the mold of what the people of Wisconsin would grow to expect from some of those linebackers that are playing in the NFL," Fickell said.

He didn't compare Alliegro to any former Badgers directly, but that mold of previous Wisconsin linebackers includes the likes of Leo Chenal, Ryan Connelly and T.J. Edwards among others.

Fickell has high expectations for what some of the returning members of his defense can elevate to this season. When paired with their transfer portal additions, the Badgers are optimistic for finding more consistency on that side of the ball in 2025.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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