Luke Fickell Provides Update on the Statuses of Kevin Heywood, Emerson Mandell

Game week is officially upon us, and in less than one week’s time, Wisconsin is going to spot the ball and go play football. For a program that desperately needs to put 2026 in the rearview mirror, there is no grander opportunity than the one that sits in front of it on Sunday night.

It’s a roster that had no shortage of change this offseason, and question marks remain. No question mark, however, looms larger than the right side of the offensive line. In his first weekly presser of the season, Luke Fickell addressed the media and provided a somewhat positive, yet unclear, update on the health of Kevin Heywood and Emerson Mandell.

Status remains to be determined

One theme stood out from Fickell’s opening statement Monday: “A lot of unknowns.”

That message was reciprocated when he was asked about Heywood and Mandell, who seem to be trending in the right direction. At this point, your guess is as good as mine when it comes to their statuses on Sunday night, but Fickell’s remarks today felt more encouraging than those to close fall camp.

“Those guys have been back in some capacity,” Fickell said. “But I couldn’t tell you exactly where we are at today, right now.”

At the fall camp finale just over a week ago, Heywood and Mandell were working through some individual drills together, with neither participating in team periods. Since Notre Dame prep has begun, practice has moved behind closed doors, so there’s not an update for the media to provide on the two linemen.

Fans should get a decent idea about the injuries when Wisconsin releases its first four-day player availability report, according to new Big Ten rules, but for now, it appears the two are being handled on a day-to-day basis.

Wisconsin's Kevin Heywood. | Christian Borman

Signs of progress

Updates on the availability of both players have seemed vague each time a coach has spoken to the media. Today was no different, but Fickell did offer some insight that suggests his staff has a better idea of where both players are at.

According to Fickell, both players took reps in today’s practice prior to his press conference, which is extremely encouraging, as the last we saw the team in practice, neither partook in team periods. He did, however, mention that a number of guys are still taking plenty of reps, as has been the case all fall.

Decision to come later in the week

For now, we’ll wait until the availability report releases later this week, but all signs point to Fickell and his staff playing things by ear and making a final decision closer to Sunday night.

“That’s the one spot probably, on the offensive line, that this week is going to be a lot of determining factors,” Fickell said.

It feels like having both guys healthy and available is a necessity for Wisconsin to hang with Notre Dame’s front seven in the trenches, but as they’ve been out for essentially all of camp, plenty of players have had opportunities with the first unit, so if they can’t go, it wouldn’t force anyone into a role they haven’t practiced.

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