Wisconsin football position group confidence rankings: Defense

Wisconsin rebuilt much of its defense this offseason. Here’s where my confidence sits with every position group entering Week 1.

Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Mason Posa and his teammates walk onto the field during practice. Photo credit: Christina Borman.

The Wisconsin football team’s defense is where I have considerably more optimism entering 2026.

That might sound strange for a unit returning only a handful of starters, but I don’t think returning production tells the whole story here. The Badgers retained important pieces, invested heavily in the transfer portal, and appear to have built legitimate playable depth at nearly every level.

The bigger question is whether Mike Tressel can turn all of those pieces into something better than the sum of their parts. Here’s where my confidence sits with every defensive position group coming out of fall camp.