The Wisconsin football team wrapped up its 14th practice of fall camp open to the media.
Practice this morning was more of a walkthrough and a lot less physical than I’ve seen the past few weeks. They spent a lot of time on first-team offense vs. second-team defense, and vice versa, as well as special teams work.
Tomorrow morning things will get much more physical when they have their scrimmage to close out camp.
Nonetheless, I still had some observations and notes from the Badgers’ penultimate camp practice.
Colton Joseph: Taking the bad with the good
When the Badgers landed Colton Joseph from the transfer portal, we knew they would be getting a playmaker at quarterback, something that has been sorely missing in the Fickell era despite numerous attempts to attack the position in the portal. Joseph was one of only two quarterbacks in the country to surpass 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards last season at Old Dominion.
His playmaking ability is undeniable, especially when he is on the run. But with that comes a little bit of a gunslinger mentality. The California native tries to make some plays that end in disaster.
Today, Joseph threw a pair of interceptions. You can take the plays with a grain of salt, because again, it’s camp, and these are the times to try to make these plays rather than in a game. But both of these picks were…ugly.
In the first team period of 7v7s, the coverage had all the receivers blanketed. Joseph left the pocket and scrambled, throwing the ball on the run. Cornerback Eric Fletcher jumped the route, picked it off, and took off the other way for six.
Later in practice during 11v11s, he threw another ball over the middle, and linebacker Drew Braam deflected it in the air and intercepted it.
This is what we are going to get from a polarizing player like Joseph. He is going to make some impressive plays, especially with his legs, but he is probably going to try to do too much from time to time and force some throws.
You have to be able to take the bad with the good.
Other notes:
Eugene Hilton Jr. started practice with the rehab group. Shamar Rigby took reps with the ones while he was out. He didn’t end up taking any live reps.
Freshman wide receiver Kash Brock continues to move up the depth chart, logging a few reps with the first team today.
Offensive lineman Emerson Mandell has missed most of camp recovering from a procedure in the spring. He did some individual work today but went back to the rehab group with Kevin Heywood during team work.
Running back Nate Palmer was out of the rehab group, but I didn’t see him take any live reps. Harrison Bortolotti took reps as RB3 behind Abu Sama and Darrion Dupree.
Bryan Jackson and Juju Pope remained in the rehab group.
The Badgers will hold their final practice open to the media tomorrow morning. The team will be doing their annual scrimmage to finish up camp before preparing for Week 1 when they travel to Lambeau Field to take on the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on September 6th.
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