MADISON – After one week of fall camp, the Wisconsin football team is essentially injury free except at one position.
Offensive line.
Right guard Emerson Mandell, who is recovering from foot surgery in the spring, has yet to take the field. Right tackle Kevin Heywood went down during the second practice with a lower body injury and has been watching practice with a walking boot on his right foot for the past couple of days.
Ironically O-line coach Eric Mateos believes the setbacks give his unit a chance to develop ahead of schedule.
“All O-line coaches are grinding out to make (the seventh and eighth linemen) on the roster viable to go win football games,” he said. “This, to me, gives us an opportunity to do that even earlier and more frequently than we already anticipated.”
The early injuries put the depth the Badgers built through the transfer portal to the test. The three players, one at tackle and two at guard, who are leading the charge to fill the void created by Mandell’s and Heywood’s injuries are transfers.
Mateos is driving that development with a direct and painfully honest style that requires players to have extremely thick skin.
“At this stage, Practice 5 is all about them trying to kill them,” Mateos said after practice Aug. 11. “I mean I’m trying to break them. I’m trying to break them down like a wild bronco. Practice 5 there’s a wall in the mind that they have to understand is built of softness thoughts. We all have it and we’re attacking that.”
He is pruning the room.
“You’ve got to cut the flowers down a little bit if you want them to grow a little bit bigger and more beautiful,” he said.
Injuries force Wisconsin to rely on transfers early
If you want to see what happens when you don’t have enough depth or versatility just look back to last season. Heywood’s season-ending knee injury and a multiple setbacks for center Jake Renfro created a domino effect of decimation. The Badgers line never recovered.
The rebuild of the unit relies greatly on transfers.
The first to get the call to the lineup were tackle PJ Wilkins, a redshirt junior from Mississippi, and center Austin Kawecki, a graduate student from Oklahoma State. They have been first-teamers since Day 1 of spring ball.
Next were sophomore Blake Cherry (Arkansas) and junior Stylz Blackmon (Division II Augustana). Both have worked with the No. 1 unit in Mandell’s absence.
The latest is Lucas Simmons-Johansson (Florida State). He shifted from second team left tackle to right tackle last week as he continues to adjust to a new offense.
“He’s responded well to sudden change,” Mateos said. “‘Like, okay, I’ve got to move over to the right.’ He’s never done right tackle in his career, and so that’s a big change. Some people don’t think it’s a big change, but try wiping after you go to the bathroom with your opposite hand and tell me how it goes, so he’s working through it, and I’m really happy with it.”
The answer is classic Mateos, who has little filter when interacting with the media or coaching his players.
“I think he’s exactly who he is on the recruiting and when you get here, he’s the exact same,” Kawecki said. “I mean, he tells you how it is before you get here. He’s going to tell you he’s going to be on your ass and want the best out of you and when you get here, that’s exactly what he’s going to get out of you.”
Or as Wilkins said: “I love it. I wouldn’t want to hit him any other way.”
Mateos accepts the challenge of the job
Mateos isn’t afaid to push himself, either.
It’s no secret that this is a pivitol season for the UW coaching staff. It’s also understood that improved play by the offensive line will go a long way toward helping the team get better.
The challenge this year is doing it as a new coach with a group that doesn’t have a lot of history playing together or a lot of experience overall. The room features five transfers. Twevle of the 19 linemen are freshman or sophomore eligible. Seven of the 10 players in the two-deep were not in the two deep to end last season.
Mateos’ task, regardless of how long the Badgers’ injuries last, is to mold his room into a unit that can help the Badgers win games and then continue to push it to greater heights.
“I’m never happy,” he said when asked how he measures success for the offensive line. “I think if an O-line coach is really doing it how he’s supposed to be doing it, when you drive home, you’re not thinking about all the good stuff you did that day. You’re thinking about the things that you need to get better at and the bar is just going to always raise.
“The goal is always going to be the next step up from where you were before.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s Eric Mateos doesn’t mince words and his players love it
Reporting by Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
