Badgers Rebuilt Tight End Room Contains 'Variety' of Skill Sets
Wisconsin's TE room looks much different heading into 2024.
Badgers head coach Luke Fickell is confident that following an unusual transitional phase, the University of Wisconsin football team's tight end room has found the right blend of talent it needs on offense.
When Fickell and his staff took over the program, it was evident that the Badgers' tight-end room comprised individuals with comparable abilities. That's because Wisconsin football had a defined offensive identity and expectations for the position under Paul Chryst, and they recruited to it.
Those skill sets didn't quite harmonize with the team's evolving offensive scheme last season. Collectively, the Badgers tight ends were targeted 44 times, catching 26 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin football coaches have re-tooled that room and now feel that the variety of player types should help lead to production.
"We've got a variety now," Fickell told reporters. "I think what we had had was pretty much a similar type of guys, and I think right now we do have some variety. We've got an older guy in Riley Nowakowski that I think can do it all. I think you got a younger guy in Tucker Ashcraft that played some last year, but I think the sky's the limit. You got a guy like Jackson McGohan that's a little bit different than those guys, is learning and is new, but gives a completely different skill set.
"You got your JT [Seagreaves] and you've got some of those other guys that are just still really trying to figure out where they fit in that mix. Are they a do-everything guy, a little bit more of a hybrid type of guy?"
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