Why Luke Fickell Expects the Badgers' Front Seven to 'Wear People Down'

Wisconsin football wasn't good at much in 2025, but an area where it was surprisingly strong looks to be potentially even stronger this fall.

For the Badgers' myriad of flaws last season, Wisconsin boasted a largely stout run defense. Aside from a few outliers, the Badgers' defensive front was an exceedingly tough unit to run on, even for some of the top offenses they went up against.

Alabama ran for just 72 yards on Wisconsin, while Indiana mustered just 83 yards. When all was said and done, the Badgers finished with the No. 15 run defense in the country, allowing 105.2 yards per game.

Despite fielding what was at times a woefully uncompetitive team last season, Wisconsin stayed strong against the run by relying on a bevy of big, experienced individuals up front. Between some in-house development and a transfer portal haul that features nine incoming players on the defensive front seven, the Badgers look to have the ingrediants to replicate the stout run defense formula from 2025.

Head coach Luke Fickell, however, believes Wisconsin's defensive front can be even better this year.

Fickell envisions another stout defensive front

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Our ability to play with nine guys up there is going to give us a chance to wear some people down," he said.

“The interior of our defensive line right now is one of the spots where I'm not sure everyone knows much about them…But I can tell you this, I think it’s a really solid group. I think it’s got some depth, I think it’s got some heart, I think it’s got some different leadership than maybe we’ve had.”

Fickell didn't specify at what position he feels the Badgers are nine deep, but he was talking about the defensive front; it's safe to assume he means the defensive line and outside linebackers.

Does that track with what we've seen this fall? I have Wisconsin at five Saturday-ready defensive linemen between Hammond Russell IV, Charles Perkins, Junior Poyser, Dillan Johnson and Nolan Vils.

On the edge, there's two distinct positions between the Jack and Sam outside backer, but combined I see another five players who I would trust to handle at least a portion of the workload on a Saturday: Sebastian Cheeks, Nick Clayton, Justus Boone, Michael Garner and Tyreese Fearbry.

That's 10 players I'd feel comfortable deploying on a Saturday between the outside linebackers and defensive line; Fickell might've even underestimated. And with a few others pushing, such as defensive lineman Jake Anderson and outside backer Jaylen Williams, the depth of the defensive front is certainly a strength.

Another reason the Badgers' run defense was stout last season is because it had a bevy of options, particularly along the defensive line. That allowed players to stay fresh, which is a huge part of proficiently stopping the run. Wisconsin appears to have the personnel to rotate heavily once again.

There's still some question marks on this team, but the defensive front shouldn't be one of them. This unit looks as deep and talented as it has under Fickell.

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