Wisconsin football: 2020 fall roster unveiled

With practices for the Wisconsin Badgers football team back up and running Wednesday morning, the program dropped their updated roster in anticipation of the 2020 season.

Each year the roster update is met with excitement to see player weight gains, player position switches and freshman sizes.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights (or lowlights in some cases) of the newly adjusted roster.

Position switches

• Jaylan Franklin: originally committed as a tight end prospect, Franklin made inroads at outside linebacker his first couple seasons on campus. The 6-foot-4 and 222 pound athlete has now returned to the tight end position, and his athleticism make him an intriguing h-back player to monitor. With Noah Burks entering his last season, Franklin was expected to be in the outside linebacker rotation prior to the position switch. The coaching staff generally only make a move like this if they believe it will improve his chances of playing.
• Brady Schipper: a walk-on running back out of Stoughton, Schipper has made the switch to safety. Wisconsin has had good luck with walk-ons at safety, maybe he can be the next contributor at the position.

No longer on the roster

• Reggie Pearson: in a surprising move, starting safety Reggie Pearson is no longer on the roster. A hard hitting defender, Pearson was the primary strong safety last season, and was expected to continue that role. The loss of Pearson is by far the most impactful update on the recently released roster.

• Emmet Perry: an upperclassman at wide receiver, Perry was unable to get things going while at Wisconsin. A former three-star recruit out of Texas, he was plagued by injuries throughout his career.
• Coy Wanner: the walk-on tight end and fullback dealt with injuries last year.
• Cristian Volpentesta: a walk-on special teams player that was entering his senior season.
• Cam Phillips: a walk-on wide receiver who redshirted last year after tearing his ACL his senior season of high school.
• Joe Stoll: a walk-on kicker.
• Jacob Heyroth: a walk-on athlete who has played both linebacker and running back for the Badgers.
• Logan O’Brien: walk-on offensive lineman
• Andrew Lyons: walk-on offensive lineman

Additions???

• JON DIETZEN IS BACK BABY!!!

Everyone’s favorite red mullet is back in action, returning to the team after walking away from football due to lower body injuries. How he will factor into the offensive line is up in the air, but we at B5Q are excited to see him back with the team.

Weight watchers

• Izayah Green-May: the most likely candidate to replace Zack Baun at outside linebacker bolstered his chances greatly by adding 17 pounds this off-season. Green-May is now listed at 232 pounds, which should help him with the rigors of setting the edge in the B1G.
• Jack Eschenbach: the walk-on tight end continues his ascension in weight. He is now up to 247 pounds.
• Julius Davis: the redshirt freshman running back added eight pounds this off-season, which should help him as he hopes to crack the running back rotation.
• Maema Njongmeta: the redshirt freshman inside linebacker added 10 pounds since the spring.
• Garrett Groshek: fresh off of getting married, Wisconsin’s third down back slimmed down six pounds entering his senior season.

Freshman numbers and sizes

• Jalen Berger (8): RB, 6-foot, 210 pounds
• Daniel Wright (12) : QB, 6-foot-8, 215 pounds*
• Chimere Dike (13): WR, 6-foot-1, 193 pounds
• Amaun Williams (16): CB, 5-foot-10, 185 pounds*
• Max Lofy (17): CB, 5-foot-10, 184 pounds
• Nick Herbig (19): OLB, 6-foot-2, 225 pounds
• Haakon Anderson (24); WR, 6-foot-1, 200 pounds*
• Isaac Smith (25): WR, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds
• Jack Van Dyke (26): K, 6-foot-5, 202 pounds*
• Gavin Meyers (28): K/P, 6-foot-1, 175 pounds*
• Ross Gengler (34): ILB, 6-foot-2, 215 pounds*
• Riley Nowakowski (37) OLB, 6-foot-1, 236 pounds*
• Preston Zachman (43): ILB, 6-foot-1, 215 pounds
• Cole Dakovich (48): TE, 6-foot-5, 252 pounds
• Cam Large (49): TE, 6-foot-3, 257 pounds
• Kaden Johnson (52): OLB, 6-foot-2, 227 pounds
• Malik Reed (53): ILB, 6-foot, 218 pounds
• Jordan Turner (54): ILB, 6-foot-1, 216 pounds
• Aaron Witt (59): OLB, 6-foot-6, 240 pounds
• Dylan Barrett (61): OL, 6-foot-5, 306 pounds
• Tanor Bortolini (63): OL, 6-foot-4, 287 pounds
• Sean Timmis (64): OL, 6-foot-4, 286 pounds*
• Ben Barton (68): OL, 6-foot-5, 285 pounds
• Kerry Kodanko (73): OL, 6-foot-2, 292 pounds*
• Trey Wedig (78): OL, 6-foot-7, 320 pounds
• Jack Nelson (79): OL, 6-foot-7, 289 pounds
• Devin Chandler (86): WR, 6-foot, 176 pounds
• James Thompson Jr. (90): DE, 6-foot-5, 277 pounds
• Cade McDonald (96): DE, 6-foot-6, 267 pound

*denotes preferred walk-on