Wisconsin practices under the lights of Camp Randall Stadium

MADISON—The lights came on inside Camp Randall Stadium, as the Wisconsin Badgers conducted its sixth fall camp practice on Tuesday night before a day of rest.

Among the highlights of the evening included redshirt sophomore wide receiver Kendric Pryor reeling in an impressive 44-yard touchdown reception during a team session towards the end of practice. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook threw a perfect pass to his receiver, who ran underneath it with ease.

Pryor did a little celebration thereafter, and the referee who was in the end zone awarded the wide out with what would have been an excessive celebration penalty.

I also liked how Aron Cruickshank caught the ball on Tuesday, but there was some celebration from the New York native. I did not see this particular move, but according to the Wisconsin State Journal’s Jason Galloway, WOZN’s Zach Heilprin and BadgerBlitz.com’s John Veldhuis, the true freshman wide out apparently performed a backflip after a touchdown.

More observations

I felt there was more mixing and matching with players on Tuesday night. With the nickel package, cornerbacks Dontye Carriere-Williams, Caesar Williams and Madison Cone saw time as the presumed first-team unit, and I also saw Cone receive a few snaps on the outside (not just in the slot).

On the offensive line, Jon Dietzen and Cole Van Lanen received reps at both left and right tackle on Tuesday night.

Sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor performed well in the receiving game, taking in a nice screen pass and running behind Tyler Biadasz and Beau Benzschawel on one play. Later on, he caught a would-be touchdown from Hornibrook in what looked like team red zone work. I still feel him adding this new dimension to his game could pay huge dividends for the offense.

On defense, walk-on redshirt freshman Matt Henningsen worked with the first-team defensive line again alongside nose tackle Olive Sagapolu and end Kayden Lyles.

Other highlights

• Redshirt senior running back Chris James hauled in a nice pass on the sideline with Hornibrook scrambling to his left. Refs called it a catch.
• Hornibrook found sophomore wide receiver Danny Davis for a would-be touchdown during what looked like a team red zone session.
• During modified team drills (looked like 7-on-7 but with two to three linemen on the field as well), true freshman cornerback Alexander Smith picked off a Jack Can throw.
• Redshirt senior outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel made a spectacular one-handed interception to rob the offense of a score during those same modified team drills.

Injuries

Reserve walk-on offensive lineman Blake Smithback was listed as out for the year with a right leg injury. Both he and cornerback Cristian Volpentesta (right leg) were taken off the 110-man roster, with safety Tyler Mais and defensive lineman Michael Balistreri being added in their place.

Safety Patrick Johnson (illness) returned to practice.

Wisconsin takes the day off of practice on Wednesday, returning to the field on Thursday morning. B5Q will be back there with more photos and recaps.