MADISON — Omillio Agard is no stranger to being challenged as an underclassman.
As a freshman starter in high school at St. Joseph’s Prep, he had to go up against eventual NFL wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. in practice every day. The quarterback throwing those passes to Harrison was Kyle McCord, too — a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
“I never beat him in practice,” Agard said of Harrison, who has remained in touch with him. “One-on-one, seven-on-seven, 11-on-11 — never really got a rep on him, but I was able to hold my own. And I’ll say that prepared me for college four years, five years ago because I was going against guys like that.”
Now, Agard is up for another challenge at another level as the redshirt freshman appears primed to take on a major role at the Wisconsin Badgers’ boundary cornerback position in 2025.
Agard has been competing with former Marshall and Miami (Fla.) cornerback D’Yoni Hill for opportunities at the cornerback spot opposite of Ricardo Hallman during the Badgers’ fall camp.
“As of right now, it’ll be a rotation,” Wisconsin cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes said. “I think both of those guys have had a good camp and played well enough that both of them deserve to play. So haven’t really thought about it on the percentage of it, but both of those guys will play for us.”
The calculus could, of course, change if fifth-year cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean regains his eligibility. But Fourqurean has an uphill climb after the NCAA won its appeal of a preliminary injunction in the court case determining his status.
Agard’s situation in fall camp is particularly impressive considering he did not play at all as a true freshman in 2024. (Hill, in comparison, took 426 snaps at Miami last year.) Agard then received second-team reps during the Badgers’ spring practices.
“It was hard to keep my confidence and gain my confidence more,” Agard said. “But as the spring went on, I started to get more reps, get more reps and then eventually I got my confidence back from where I had it in high school.”
While the Philadelphia native had good enough technique in high school to be a highly-touted recruit and three-time state champion, he realized during last year’s fall camp as he went up against receivers like Vinny Anthony that he needed “to up it a notch” at the college level.
“You get there and you realize, ‘Hey, these guys are more faster, more twitchier,’” Agard said. “You have to hone into another level of it, and I feel like that’s what I did, and that’s what I focused on.”
It also helps that he bulked up significantly. He remembers weighing 164 pounds when he arrived at Wisconsin, and now he is at 185 pounds. Teammates have already noticed the difference.
“A lot of the physicality on the defense starts with him setting the edges and having to be more physical and be a true presence in the run game,” fellow cornerback Ricardo Hallman said. “So I think he’s done a really good job, and he’s been taking on blocks even from linemen. … He’s just been a lot more physical, and you can tell how much the weight has helped him.”
Agard has shined throughout UW’s 2025 fall camp. He most notably had a pair of interceptions in the Badgers’ Aug. 11. Other highlights include an interception on Aug. 2 that had pick-six potential.
“He’s probably close to 400, 500 reps in this camp,” Haynes said. “You can always get it from the film and watch it, but when you’re out there getting reps, it just helps you. And that’s where his growth has come. With all those reps, he just gets better and better.”
From North Philly to Madison
Agard, a former four-star recruit, had many offers from college football heavyweights such as Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Penn State and others. But he suffered an injury during his junior year, and “a lot of teams backed off on me.”
Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin staff offered him a scholarship in that spring and “never stopped” in their recruitment. Agard knew “they really wanted me” when the coaching staff told him to come on an official visit without going on an unofficial visit first.
While he can’t get a Dalessandro’s cheesesteak here — he likes it with provolone cheese, salt and pepper, ketchup and a “little bit” of mayo — Madison and the UW coaching staff made strong impressions on him during his visit.
“I came; it blew me away,” Agard said. “I thought it was going to be a bunch of corn fields and a bunch of fields. But when I came, it was a city. I’m from Philly, so I was like, ‘Man, I could do this.’ But the coaching staff — they always showed me love and always felt like I was a priority. … I feel like that’s what set them apart.”
Then he received mentorship from veteran cornerbacks like Hallman and Fourqurean when he arrived on campus in 2024 — not all that unlike the mentorship he received for the previous four years in Philadelphia.
“As soon as I got here, man, it was just like my high school,” Agard said. “Rico and Ny took me under their wing. They understood that I wasn’t ready last year, but they stayed in touch with me. They made sure I was doing the right things, and they made sure that I was sticking to the playbook and making sure I’m doing everything right.”
As for his freshman-year matchups with Harrison, a senior at the time, Agard had a few humbling moments.
“Of course, oh my gosh,” Agard said. “It was crazy. I don’t even talk about that.”
But if his level of play in fall camp carries over to the regular season, Agard will have something else to talk about while wearing the Badgers’ cardinal red rather than St. Joe’s Prep crimson.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers cornerback Omillio Agard could have key role after improving technique, physicality
Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
