Wisconsin Football Gets Clarity on Status of Kevin Heywood, Emerson Mandell

Wisconsin football won't be at full strength when it opens the season at Lambeau Field on Sunday night.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, while Badgers' starting right tackle Kevin Heywood (lower body) is expected to play against Notre Dame, starting right guard Emerson Mandell (foot) is expected to sit out the contest.

Sources: Wisconsin starting right tackle Kevin Heywood (lower body) is expected to play against No. 4 Notre Dame on Sunday, as his status had been uncertain heading into the game. Right guard Emerson Mandell (foot) is not expected to play for the Badgers. pic.twitter.com/NaFx0GicZn
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 6, 2026

Neither player is a lock to either play or not play quite yet, of course, and the Big Ten won't release official injury reports until conference games. That is to say, we won't know for certain what the Badgers' starting five will look like until toe meets leather Sunday night.

Still, this was just about the expected outcome for Wisconsin. Heywood got banged up early in fall camp at practice No. 2. He was held out of all live work afterwards, and while he wasn't a practice participant, he was still very active coaching up and encouraging the rest of the offensive line room.

He wore a boot on his right foot for a large portion of fall camp, but by the home stretch, he had shed the boot and appeared to be progressing on a day-to-day basis.

Mandell was a different story. The guard, who underwent foot surgery after suffering an injury in spring ball, worked off to the side for the duration of fall camp and looked far less dialed in than Mandell. Based on body language alone, his return appeared less imminent even though his injury was less recent.

Projecting Wisconsin's starting five Sunday night

Wisconsin OL coach Eric Mateos. | Christian Borman.

With Heywood in the fold and Mandell out of the picture, this is what I envision the Badgers' starting five up front to look like Sunday night:

- LT: PJ Wilkins
- LG: Colin Cubberly
- C: Austin Kawecki
- RG: Stylz Blackmon
- RT: Kevin Heywood

You could also see Arkansas transfer Blake Cherry at guard, and unless Blackmon is absolutely dominant right out of the gate, I'd expect those two to rotate. Still, it appears Wisconsin is going to have four of its five starting linemen healthy against the Irish, which is a huge boost considering it looked like the entire right side of the line could miss the game mere days ago.

It'll be interesting to see if Heywood plays the entire game, or if Florida State transfer Lucas Simmons-Johansson (who repped at starting right tackle in his stead) rotates in at some point.

"There could be a combination, and I bet you you'll see a lot of guys play," Fickell said about the Badgers' offensive line this week.

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