Wisconsin Badgers senior safety Matt Jung knows what it feels like when the game is moving faster than you are.
His first taste of that came well before he arrived at Wisconsin. Jung remembers being thrown into a matchup against Alabama on the road and immediately feeling the difference.
A few years and plenty of college football later, the Neenah (Wis.) native believes those experiences are helping him play differently.
And that matters for a Wisconsin football defense counting on Jung to provide stability on the back end of a secondary that looks considerably different than it did a year ago.
“Last year when I would say I got put in against Alabama, that game felt super fast to me,” Jung told reporters. “And I’ve played in a lot of big games along with a lot of guys we’re returning. Coop, Posa.
“We’ve played in a lot of big football games. So to be able to have those under our belt and get the game speed really going allows us to anticipate plays and play fast without worrying about their speed.”
Jung now enters his second season at Wisconsin as one of the most experienced players in Mike Tressel’s secondary, two years removed from earning Division III First-Team All-America honors and the Cliff Harris Award as the nation’s top small-college defensive player at Bethel.
The 6-foot-3, 213-pound safety appeared in all 12 games and made eight starts during his first season as a Badger, stepping into the lineup after Preston Zachman went down with an injury. Jung’s 628 defensive snaps were the third-most on Wisconsin’s defense, and he finished fifth on the team with 50 total tackles.
His production increased as his role grew. Jung recorded nine tackles apiece against Michigan and Iowa, added five tackles and a tackle for loss against Ohio State, then registered a season-high 10 tackles at Oregon.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jung finished with a 64.2 overall defensive grade, including a 66.6 run-defense grade, 67.8 tackling grade and 62.2 coverage grade across those 628 snaps.
Those numbers provide a baseline. Wisconsin needs him to help provide something more important in 2026.
