Five questions heading into the Badgers opener vs. Western Michigan

my guest is Mark Stewart Badgers reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel we are previewing the badger season opener for 2024 against Western Michigan at Camp Randall Stadium Mark the first thing is the news this week that James Thompson Jr is going to miss what seems like the rest of the season I don't know if that's a definite yes that he's going to be out for the rest of the year but he is out for a while he happens to be a leader at a position that they don't have a lot of you know defensive line has been thin and now it takes yet one more hit give me a sense of what you think his injury does for this unit and who in the world is going to be able to step up and fill that void well you know and I kind of touched on in in a story I wrote uh lat you know this week that if there was one guy if you had to put a list of people that you say okay we cannot lose this person on this team James Thompson would be high on the list he he might not be one of your you know if you're ranking best players on the team he's pretty good but you know you combine his experience at the position and what they have there and the fact that I think he was probably you know I think he was gonna have he was poised to have a pretty good year and he was having a good camp um it's it's a tough loss and I I don't know how they're going to compensate for you know for his you know for his his absence I mean I think um you know one of the things is just another year in the system that's what you're hearing guys like like Kurt Neil and and Ben Barton talk about you know just the second year in in the defense they they feel a lot more comfortable things feel a lot more in instinctive and and maybe that's G to help and and sometimes you know what we've seen so far in campus sometimes you know injuries open up the door for guys and maybe you know players perform a little better than you anticipate um I do think that's kind of hard on a position like the defensive line where it's such a you know it's it's it's a grown man's position you know it's you know so I think it's it's it's gonna be it's gonna be tough for guys to kind of come in and show things that they haven't been showing in practice but that's that's what you gotta hope you gotta hope that you know this first what two three weeks of the Season that you know guys just kind of get better and develop as the year goes on and that maybe as you get toward you know really that tough Meat part of the schedule that's going to hit you in late October that you've developed some depth there that maybe you don't have right now one of the spotlighted guys or maybe the spotlighted guy will be Tyler van djk the transfer from Miami who is going to be playing his first presumably only year with the uh with the Badgers program he is uh he has defined himself as qb1 through through the course of the preseason give me a sense of where you what you've seen from him lately if you I mean it's easy to forget yes he he wasn't he wasn't at his best the last couple years at Miami but he's got this talent in him he had some really really good numbers in his red Shir freshman season in 2021 it feels like it's just a matter of finding the right fit for him maybe Phil Longo system is that fit give me a sense of what you're looking for when you watch him play for the first time under the lights um well I'm looking for you know we've heard a lot about you know Wisconsin stretching the field you know vertically which is something we didn't see a lot of last year uh so sorry that was a bird that just flew by me um um so that's that's definitely one thing I want I want to see is like okay how much is Tyler willing to to even attempt those kind of throws and then obviously on the back end can a Vinnie Anthony um CJ Williams can those guys make more of those plays this year um you know the other thing I'm interested in is just ball distribution you know last year you know will Pauling and Skyler Bell who's no longer with the team you know that that slot receiver position gets a lot of attention or at least you got aot of attention last year um but for the offense to really be at its best you know you really got to spread the ball around so I'm going to be interested to just kind of see you know how the ball is distributed this year are we gonna see guys like will Polland continue to just get a ton of targets or will will we see more balance Tred kekahuna is a guy that I really want to see I feel like as as much as there's Intrigue around the true freshman and a lot of the transfers van dijk included of course he'd be at the top of this list but kekahuna is the guy I think has the most potential it seems like to just be a you know a star this season and maybe that's putting too much on him for a guy who's only played sparingly but is is that the new name for for people who are used to watching the Badgers and yes they know the quarterback will be new but is that the one guy that I think people are really going to be excited to see or will want to see when uh when this game gets going um I I do I think I think last year the the small sample size that we saw of him you know because he did play four games but he was able to keep his red shirt so for people who are wondering like well why is he still listed as a red shirt freshman um it's because he you know you can play up to four games and keep that year um and you know yeah he he's just he's different like you know you see him with the ball in those tight spaces and and he stops on a dime he's he's just real entertaining watch and he you know of their of the guys that they have he it seems just like he's a big play waiting to happen um now obviously you still got will Pauling who's your number one slot receiver but I think we're gonna see more of you know will and tret on the field together and we're gonna see you know different different combinations than maybe we saw a year ago but but yeah I'm very intrigued to see what TR can do as well we haven't talked a lot about the offensive line on this team and I think that was kind of one of the indictments the last couple years on the Badgers is they haven't been able to keep it together where a guy can take over you know brayan Allen was was very very good when he was here but also it felt like that maybe yards were left on the table because the line just couldn't gel together a lot of these guys were here last year there's a couple new additions the tackles Jack Nelson and Riley mman are the same so there is some continuity here how do you feel is is this a true Wisconsin football offensive line are they back to having those types of you know that type of excellence in that unit or are there still too many question marks I mean I think the big question mark is you know health I mean I think when you look at that that starting unit I mean I feel pretty good about what I've seen from that starting unit to think that you know hey this is going to be a a pretty productive group and then when you you know bring in the coaching change of you know AJ blasek you know as as the offensive line coach you know he's really just kind of gone in and I think just really connected with guys and and maybe broaden energy to teaching that position uh as well as some maybe simplifying some things that's really going to help this unit uh do well now the key is you got to stay healthy because this is one of those years I would look at this after that starting five this is like a a depth building year you got a lot of young guys who are in the two deep or who are on the cusp of being in the two deep so you know especially on the offensive line we talked about grown man position for a defensive line line offensive line is the same way and it's tough for young guys to really come in and make you know big impacts if if you got freshman starting on your offensive line usually that's not a good thing true freshman I mean so um I do think unit is gonna be better but the key is it everyone's just got to stay healthy um and you know that's kind of where I think things stand with that group obviously if Western Michigan wins on Friday will be very bad news for the Wisconsin Badgers a very bad Omen a very bad loss etc etc uh I would imagine that Wisconsin will win this game pretty likely that that's going to happen but what are you looking for we kind of as asked this before what are what do you need to see to know that 2024 isn't going to be a repeat of 2023 well I mean let's just start with the start of the games I mean sure it's Western Michin but you know slow starts you know hurt this team in a few games that it lost how do they get out of the gate that's one thing I'm going to be looking for uh another thing I'm going to be looking for is um you know a lot of attention was made in the transfer portter in terms of uh pass rush and and Lineback you know getting linebackers and people who can you know pressure the quarterback and make him uncomfortable um Can Wisconsin do that I mean with you know Western Michigan you know it seems like you know the strength of their team is their offensive line uh they have a veteran quarterback they have a you know a pretty talented sophomore running back too so um you know for week one opponent it seems like Western Michigan has some uh some tools that would you know give Wisconsin a test but um but yeah I definitely want to see what kind of you know how uncomfortable uh Wisconsin makes the opposing quarterback and just how how they control that that line of scrimmage especially from from a defensive standpoint he is Mark Stewart Wisconsin Badgers reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel find everything he has at jsonline.com you can find him on Twitter he'll be there Friday at Camp Randle Stadium Eight O'Clock kickoff Mark for this game against uh Western Michigan that's kind of brutal kind of brutal um we'll get through it yeah we yeah we'll get through it if it would have been especially brutal in the old days if you know when you had the hard print deadlines oh yeah at least at least now you know with the internet it it makes things a little a little a little easier from a deadline stando point but uh you know but yeah hey it's a night game at Camp Rando it should be you know y it should be pretty good regardless we will both be there you can follow us on uh social media you can follow us at jsonline.com and we will talk to you again very soon byebye everybody