Mason Posa, Cooper Catalano set to 'run the show' for Wisconsin’s defense
Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano have emerged as leaders at LB, giving Wisconsin football a foundation to build around on defense.
There’s a reason inside linebacker is the one spot on the University of Wisconsin football team’s roster that feels rock solid right now — and it has very little to do with spring depth charts or offseason hype.
It’s about proof.
When Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano were forced into bigger roles late in the 2025 season, they didn’t look like placeholders. They didn’t look like players treading water until help arrived. They looked like answers. Not finished products, to be clear, but real solutions. The kind you build a defense around instead of continually searching for difference makers.
That matters more than ever in college football’s current climate.
Posa and Catalano weren’t just serviceable during a lost season that ended in 4-8. They were legitimately impactful. And they did it without the benefit of having the long runway so many young players get now.
Catalano enrolled early last spring. Posa didn’t. That detail gets glossed over, but it shouldn’t. Posa arrived in the summer, went through fall camp, and climbed the depth chart on the fly. Even still, Posa ended his true freshman season as a third-team All-Big Ten linebacker. That’s not a normal development curve. That’s accelerated growth under live fire.
What’s changed now is the expectation.
“It is,” Posa said when asked if his approach is different heading into Year 2. “Everybody just looked at us as freshmen who could make some plays, but before spring ball, Coach Tress and Coach Tuf pulled us aside, telling us it’s our defense now. We’re going to run the show. We need leaders.”
