Wisconsin Football Week 3 Defensive Snap Count Breakdown and Analysis

The Badgers got back on track with a commanding 54-10 win over Eastern Michigan in Week 3 that left its fanbase exponentially more satiated than it was after the less dominant victory over Western Illinois the week prior.

Now, the Badgers must prepare to open Big Ten play against a daunting opponent: Penn State on the road in Happy Valley.

As we did for the offense, Badgers On SI has defensive snap counts and analysis from the win over Eastern Michigan:

Author's note: snap count data from Pro Football Focus.

Defensive line

Snap Counts:

- DeNigel Cooper (25)
- Hammond Russell IV (21)
- Jacob Anderson (20)
- Dillan Johnson (17)
- Nolan Vils (16)
- Charles Perkins (15)
- Junior Poyser (11)

Cooper led the way with 25 snaps, and after playing 22 last week against Western Illinois, he's seemingly become a fixture of the rotation. Anderson's 20 snaps were a season-high for the Illinois State transfer, while players like Perkins and Poyser played their fewest. The Badgers relied upon heavy rotation up front once again, but I expect this list to shorten during conference play.

Outside linebacker

Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Sebastian Cheeks. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Snap Counts:

- Tyreese Fearby (43)
- Sebastian Cheeks (33)
- Justus Boone (19)
- Nick Clayton (16)
- Michael Garner (12)
- Jayden Loftin (10)
- Will McDonald (6)

The deepest outside linebacker rotation Wisconsin has deployed to date this season. McDonald and Loftin got their first snaps of the 2026 campaign, while Fearbry led the room in snaps for the first time this season. Clayton's 16 snaps were a career high. Cheeks and Fearbry are clearly the top two players in this room, snap count-wise, through three games with Garner, Boone and Clayton filling out the rest of the rotation behind them, in that order.

Inside linebacker

Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Cooper Catalano. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Snap Counts:

- Cooper Catalano (38)
- Mason Posa (29)
- Taylor Schaefer (28)
- Thomas Heiberger (26)
- Jon Jon Kamara (24)
- Aaron Witt (11)
- Landon Gauthier (5)

The inside linebacker rotation was just as deep as the outside backers. Schaefer easily played his most snaps thus far at Wisconsin after playing just seven last week. Kamara's 24 snaps were also a Wisconsin high. Gauthier saw his first career snaps on defense. Catalano and Posa, who logged a scoop-and-score touchdown and an interception, respectively, took some snaps off in the comfortable win.

Cornerback

Snap Counts:

- Jai’mier Scott (46)
- Javan Robinson (40)
- Eric Fletcher Jr (35)
- Bryce West (31)
- Donovan Dunmore (11)

The Badgers kept their cornerback rotation pretty status quo against the Eagles with the addition of the freshman Dunmore. No Cai Bates this week was a little surprising, but he only logged three snaps in the win last week as well; we may not see much of the Florida State transfer this season. West saw easily his fewest snaps of the season with Wisconsin rolling some safeties into the slot later in the game. Fletcher has seen his workload increase by about 10 snaps each week.

Safety

Snap Counts:

- Marvin Burks Jr (49)
- Matt Jung (46)
- Carson Van Dinter (20)
- Cairo Skanes (17)
- Raphael Dunn (6)

Burks and Jung once again dominated the snaps at the top of the safety room. Though it was just by two snaps, this is the first game in which Burks out-snapped Jung. Van Dinter got his most action in a Badgers uniform, and Skanes continued to play a rotational role in the secondary.

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