Player Previews: Back at OG, Emerson Mandell Looks Poised to Thrive

Over the course of the summer leading up to Big Ten Media Days and fall camp, Badgers On SI will extensively preview Wisconsin football's roster with a write-up for each player expected to be remotely involved in 2026.

We continue the series with a returning starter on the offensive line, offensive guard Emerson Mandell.

2025 Stats

12 games, 12 starts (one at right guard, 11 at right tackle).

Overview

Mandell came to Wisconsin as a consensus four-star prospect and one of the top players in Minnesota in the class of 2024. It only took him one lap around the track to earn a starting role in Madison, but his first year as a starter was anything but smooth.

Mandell started the season playing his more natural position of right guard. But after Wisconsin's replacement left tackle, Davis Heinzen, fell apart in the opener against Miami University, the Badgers were forced to kick Riley Mahlman out to the blindside tackle spot and bump Mandell out to right tackle.

Unsurprisingly, the redshirt freshman struggled at times last fall. Still just in his second year of college ball and playing out of position, Mandell was overmatched from time to time. Still, he got vital experience being thrown into the fire, and towards the end of the season, his game started to take legitimate strides.

With Wisconsin having restocked its tackle position, Mandell is now back at right guard and looks primed for his best year yet.

“I just think that’s his future, that’s his best position. It doesn’t mean he can’t play tackle here. I think his power, his force. We wanna have big guards, and right now, we do. We wanna have big, wide bodies on the O-Line right now," new offensive line coach Eric Mateos said this spring.

Best-Case Scenario

Wisconsin offensive lineman Emerson Mandell. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Again, Mandell had his fair share of struggles last season. But again, he was also clearly playing out of position. The 6-foot-5, 325-pound lineman certainly has the frame to play tackle, but he's more of a body-moving blocker on the interior than an anchor on the edge.

If things go Mandell's way this season, the move back to guard goes swimmingly. He immediately settles in as a physical, punishing force in the run game whose sheer size and physicality on the interior becomes one of the key drivers of Wisconsin's rushing attack. Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes finds ways to get him out blocking at the second level, where he develops a penchant for mauling linebackers and defensive backs.

“We have a 325-pound guy that likes to hit people, lets get him every opportunity to hit people inside rather than on the outside when sometimes they don’t get to do as much of that fun stuff," Mateos added.

Worst-Case Scenario

Mandell is one of those players for which, barring a catastrophic injury, the worst-case scenario seems extremely unlikely, and that's a good thing. If things go awry for Mandell this fall outside of injury, it would entail his game simply falling apart. Considering he's now in his third year of college ball and back at his natural position, that seems largely outside the realm of possibility.

With his size and strength, Mandell is the kind of player who should only continue to get better if he's put in situations where he can thrive. Wisconsin's coaching staff looks appears to have finally done that for him, moving him back to guard and creating a better contingency plan at tackle; there's no world in which Mandell should have to kick back out to the edge this fall.

Prediction

Offensive lineman Emerson Mandell. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

I see a big year coming for Mandell. Again, it's just hard to envision him taking a step back after the invaluable experience he gained last season, playing a position he clearly wasn't fully equipped to. Could it take him a few games to settle back in at guard? Certainly, especially considering the opener is against one the national title favorites in Notre Dame. But ultimately, this should be the year Mandell arrives.

I see Mandell holding down the right guard spot, and staking his claim as somewhere between a solid Big Ten tackle and one of the better tackles in the conference.

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