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A week after leading the No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers in tackles against Troy in a 28-3 win, true freshman inside linebacker Chris Orr appears to be in line for his first start of his career.
According to a report by 247Sports' Evan Flood, Orr -- only three games into his collegiate career -- is expected to start on Saturday when the Badgers face Hawaii at Camp Randall Stadium. Flood's sources stated Orr will replace junior Leon Jacobs on the first-team defense.
The 6-foot, 228-pound Orr tallied 14 tackles in his first extended time last Saturday at inside linebacker opposite redshirt freshman T.J. Edwards after Jacobs was ejected from the game after a questionable targeting penalty against Troy sophomore quarterback Brandon Silvers. The DeSoto, Tex. native's 14 stops -- 11 solo -- were the most by a true freshman in the FBS so far during the 2015 season, and the most by a Badgers true freshman since at least 1997.
Orr, though not enrolling early at Wisconsin in the spring, jumped into the two-deep with his play during fall camp, as he and redshirt freshman Ryan Connelly asserted themselves in the two-deep initially behind Edwards and Jacobs. Orr's impressed so far in 2015, especially against the Trojans last Saturday.
"I think Chris, what I have liked, he continues to work to get better," Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst said Monday during his weekly press conference when asked about Orr's performance and how he graded out against Troy.
"He loves the game and I think one of his strengths is his instincts. There are certain areas that he can improve upon, and really every game he's done some good things, just played a little bit in the Alabama game, played more against Miami, and certainly got more snaps, and I think that allowed him to get into the rhythm of the game. He's got really good instincts. I thought he was doing a better job of attacking early, and it's not atypical but was trying -- he doesn't want to be wrong. I think it took away some things, but I think he was trusting what he was seeing and playing downhill.
"Chris is young, same thing could be said with T.J. (Edwards); T.J. has good instincts, and I like the way they're working, but they can still get a lot better and that's encouraging."