Wisconsin football: freshman OLB Nick Herbig is making waves in practice

On Wednesday afternoon, Wisconsin Badgers defensive line coach Inoke Brecketerfield and defensive linemen Garrett Rand and Isaiahh Loudermilk spoke to the media via Zoom for about 40 minutes. They discussed many things with us, from how they dealt with the uncertainty of this past offseason to how they could add new wrinkles to their scheme since the d-line room is filled with veterans.

However, the one thing that stood out was both Breckterfield and Loudermilk mentioning how well freshman OLB Nick Herbig has been playing so far this fall.

Coming out of St. Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii, Herbig was a 4-star OLB and one of the top players in Wisconsin’s 2020 class and was named state defensive player of the year for the 2019 season.

On Signing Day, our very own Matt Belz had this to say about Herbig when asked who in the 2020 class he was most excited to see take the field:

“He is supremely athletic and talented as a pass rusher. Coming in from one of the top high schools in the country for developing talent, he has played some of the best teams across the nation, and shined. I think he is the most surefire prospect that Wisconsin nabbed in the process, and I think he will be an absolute force in the Badgers 3-4 scheme.”

Almost all of our writers mentioned Herbig as a possible “play early” candidate on Signing Day and with the comments from a veteran lineman and a position coach above, it seems like this is a likely possibility.

Now, Breckterfield and the boys talked about much more than just Nick Herbig...they also mentioned new starting quarterback Graham Mertz!

The “we” in this tweet is the media, not us. We at B5Q did not ask this question as we are more observers and also prefer to leave the question asking to others whose mics work on the Zoom calls.

Some other quick bullet points from the meeting:

• NT Bryson Williams is healthy and confident according to Breckterfield.
• Breckterfield is obviously excited about having Williams and Keeanu Benton at NT. He wanted Benton to work on his technique and being more consistent this offseason.
• Garrett Rand mentioned that he doesn’t watch much college football on Saturdays and instead spends time with his girlfriend. A real braggart that Rand.
• Rand says he likes to learn both defensive and offensive schemes so he always knows whats going on.
• Both Loudermilk and Rand have high expectations for the defense as a unit this year. Loudermilk is “feeling great” about the defense.