Wisconsin football buy or sell: Breaking down pre-fall camp storylines
BadgerNotes staff writer Seamus Rohrer shares his thoughts on various storylines surrounding Wisconsin football, with fall camp just days away.
If you can already smell the tailgates on Regent Street, see the mass of Cardinal and White marching towards the Camp Randall arch, and hear 75,000-plus people singing “Build Me Up Buttercup,” you’re not crazy — Wisconsin football is almost here.
After local media day on July 28, the Badgers will head to UW-Platteville for two weeks to begin fall camp, which will wrap up back in Madison ahead of Wisconsin’s season opener against Miami (OH).
Much has been determined through spring camp and offseason workouts, but there’s still plenty of details to be ironed out under the sweltering August sun.
As the Badgers gear up for the third fall camp of the Luke Fickell era, BadgerNotes staff writer Seamus Rohrer decides whether he’s “buying” or “selling” on various storylines surrounding Wisconsin football.
Bigger = better on defense: Buy
It can’t get much worse, right? After Wisconsin was repeatedly manhandled in the trenches last season, with no game more embarrassing than the debacle in Iowa City in which the Hawkeyes racked up 329 rushing yards with ease, “getting bigger” up front was a recurring theme this offseason.
Empirically, the Badgers have accomplished that. Through a myriad of transfer portal additions, Wisconsin has beefed up its size on the interior defensive line and added several jumbo-sized outside linebackers to hold down the edge. Notable newcomers up front include defensive tackles Parker Petersen (315 pounds) and Charles Perkins (316 pounds), as well as outside backers Michael Garner (300 pounds) and Corey Walker (297 pounds).
Each outside linebacker that’s expected to play — aside from the talented true freshman Nick Clayton — is in the neighborhood of 250 pounds, with some like the aforementioned Garner and Walker pushing 300. The average weight of the defensive line has increased from 288.9 pounds in 2024 to 300.8 pounds in 2025.
Petersen and Perkins, among other members of the rebuilt front seven, flashed legit ability in spring camp. I think the staff did a better job of identifying traits and skills in this portal cycle to add potential playmakers. Still, it’s exceedingly difficult to project how transfers, many of whom come from lower levels of the sport, will perform. Thus, while I do expect improvement from last season’s highly permeable defensive front, I’ll leave it at that and stop short of predicting a radical change.
This is RB Dilin Jones’ backfield: Sell
Don’t get me wrong — Jones is the perfect fit for new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes’ wide zone running scheme. He’s a decisive and powerful one-cut back who grabbed the top spot in the running back room in spring camp and didn’t look back.
I can certainly see a world where Jones is the 1A. In fact, that appears more than likely. But I can’t see a world in which Jones dominates the snaps and carries in this backfield.
This will be a run-first team through and through. That alone suggests Wisconsin is going to need to rely on multiple bodies to carry the football from a wear-and-tear perspective alone.
But more than that, the Badgers have a lot of fascinating skillsets to tap into in Devon Spalding’s room. Darrion Dupree, who was ahead of Jones on the tailback pecking order essentially until he got injured in spring camp, is an immensely talented receiving back with excellent body control. With his pass-catching ability out of the backfield, I would expect to see him on the field on third downs at the very least, and likely much more often to serve as a change-of-pace option.
Cade Yacamelli, who averaged 8.3 yards-per-carry on 33 rushes last year, is one of the fastest players on the team and will also likely see his role expand in the Badgers’ new (old) run-first offense.
Again, I’m high on Jones. He’s easily the best schematic fit for Grimes’ offense. But this is a team that wants to punish opponents with the ground game, and that requires a handful of capable (and frequently utilized) tailbacks.