Wisconsin football's safety room is one of the biggest mysteries on the roster

Wisconsin football's spring practices are scheduled to kick off on March 19. With dozens of incoming transfers, a handful of new position coaches and a new starting quarterback once again, there'll be no shortage of intrigue when the Badgers hit the practice field.

At Badgers On SI, we'll preview spring ball position-by-position. Today, we wrap it up with the safeties.

Best Badger Safety During Spring Practice

Marvin Burks Jr.

Wisconsin entered the offseason with a pretty sizable hole at safety after losing Preston Zachman to Indiana via the transfer portal and Austin Brown to graduation. That's 788 snaps the Badgers need to replace on the back end of their defense.

Thus, Wisconsin needed bodies in its safety room, preferably players with the kind of experience that could help account for the loss of two senior program stalwarts. It got that in Burks.

Burks comes to Madison a two-year starter at Missouri with 1,287 career snaps under his belt. Last season, he notched 49 tackles, one pass-breakup, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and a pick-six.

By far the most veteran safety on this roster, Burks is as locked into a starting role as anyone and his experience should shine in spring ball.

Biggest Question

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Carnell Tate (17) catches a touchdown pass against Wisconsin Badgers safety Matt Jung (29). | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

How much competition does Matt Jung have for the second starting safety role?

As mentioned, you can pencil in Burks as the top starter at safety. The next obvious choice to start alongside him would be Jung, who played 628 snaps last season and improved as the year wore on. But how much competition do we see for that second safety spot?

Jung makes sense for a few reasons. He got plenty of experience last season after getting thrown into the fire in the wake of Zachman's injury that held him out after Week 2. He's a fifth-year senior, about to exhaust his eligibility. What's more, he spent more of his time in the box last season at strong safety, playing 305 snaps there as opposed to 201 on the back end. That makes him a nice pairing with Burks, who has spent the vast majority of his time at free safety.

Still, there's other players in this room who will push for snaps. Matthew Traynor got involved in a small way last season, and he'll be looking for a spike in playing time. The Badgers also brought in Iowa State transfer safety Carson Van Dinter, who played 67 snaps in his redshirt freshman season last year in Ames.

It'll be interesting to see how much competiton the coaching staff lets unfold in this room.

Player to Watch

Cairo Skanes.

Specifically, how does he look in his transition from cornerback to safety?

It was somewhat surprising when Wisconsin announced it was switching Skanes' position. It deployed him at cornerback last season as a true freshman, and with his lanky 6-foot-2, 195-pound build, he seemed way more suited to corner than either safety position.

Still, the Badgers needed reinforcements in that room, and it'll be fascinating to track Skanes' development as a safety. How much of a shot is he given to compete for snaps? How fluid does he look at his new position? Where is he at in the safety pecking order?

There's a lot of unknowns in this room, but Skanes might be the biggest.

Most to Gain

Carson Van Dinter.

The Kaukauna native returns to his home state after two years with the Cyclones. Given that he's only played 67 career snaps, the jury is still out on Van Dinter. But he started the final game of the season for Iowa State and played starter-level snaps the game before that; he clearly earned some trust from the Cyclones' coaching staff.

Can he earn the same rapport with Wisconsin's defensive coaches? If he does, he could feasibly compete for snaps immediately. Like most young players, there's areas he could improve upon — he missed six tackles across just 180 snaps last season — but with how wide open the Badgers' safety room looks past the first and maybe second spots, Van Dinter is someone who could rocket up the depth chart with a strong spring.

One Bold Prediction

This room is far from settled after spring practice, with potentially even less clarity on the rotation after Burks.

Looking at this safety room, there just feels like a log-jam in the middle of unproven players on their sophomore year of eligibility.

Still, that should foster plenty of competition. Jung should have the inside track to a starting role given his 600-plus snaps last season, but it's not like he was a stud on the back end; others should be given every chance to take his job. And again, with only two players in the room with significant Power Four film to their name, this coaching staff should take a good, long look at the entire safety room in an effort to figure out what they have.

Spring practice should allow us to get to know the Badgers' safeties better individually, but as for who checks in where in the pecking order, that could easily remain a mystery to revisit come fall camp.