InkBlog

MADISON, Wis. — Thirteen minutes had elapsed since Mike Tressel expressed his excitement while stepping in front of reporters for his introductory interview session as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator, when silence filled the air. Tressel, sensing the final question had been asked, then incredulously (and perhaps only half-jokingly) posed a query of his own.

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“Come on now,” Tressel said Thursday morning. “This is our first chance to talk and that’s all you’ve got?”

Consider it a rare occasion in which a coach has actually wanted to answer more questions from media members.

Tressel, the 49-year-old who also will coach Wisconsin’s linebackers, presented himself as a man who radiates enthusiasm. That energy and passion for the game likely will go a long way with Badgers players, particularly those who became close with former defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who was promoted to interim coach but passed over for the permanent job in favor of Luke Fickell and left the program after the season.

Tressel’s most substantial upcoming task, in addition to learning about his roster, is determining how to implement a defense that takes the best of what Leonhard achieved in six seasons with what Tressel believes will work in his scheme. During Leonhard’s tenure, Wisconsin ranked first nationally in total defense, second in run defense and fifth in scoring defense.

Tressel, who spent the past two seasons as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under Fickell, has utilized a 3-3-5 defense. Wisconsin has run a 3-4 with a 2-4-5 system when operating out of the nickel package. Per TruMedia, Cincinnati played 627 snaps using 3-3-5 personnel this past season (66.3 percent), its most-used grouping. Wisconsin’s defense played 518 snaps using 2-4-5 personnel (63.2 percent), the Badgers’ most-used grouping.

“We’re spending a lot of time right now, second to recruiting, trying to figure out how to mesh the elite,” Tressel said. “That’s one of the things we’ve talked about. Wisconsin’s defense has been phenomenal.”

Tressel noted that Wisconsin ranked No. 1 in the country in run defense (65.2 yards per game) in 2021. That same season, Cincinnati ranked No. 2 in pass defense (168.3 yards) on the way to a College Football Playoff appearance. Tressel indicated how helpful Leonhard was during the coaching transition and said he even watched film with the new staff.

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“We’re getting to figure out the way to mesh these together,” Tressel said. “My job is to not give you too much detail so people don’t know what to prepare for. But certainly the defense here is what we’ve been able to recruit great players to, is proven phenomenal in the Big Ten Conference. We’re going to hold onto a lot of that. But we’re also going to bring some of that as you call it 3-3-5, although I think it’s a unique 3-3-5 that might give some different looks to people that haven’t prepared for it.”

Part of why Tressel is so keen on holding onto key components of Wisconsin’s previous defense is due to the tremendous success the Badgers have found recruiting and developing outside linebackers. Wisconsin has used a 3-4 system since defensive coordinator Dave Aranda implemented the scheme in 2013. A variety of talented outside linebackers have thrived, including Joe Schobert, Vince Biegel, T.J. Watt, Andrew Van Ginkel, Zack Baun and most recently Nick Herbig. Schobert, Watt and Baun were first-team All-Americans.

Wisconsin’s roster for next season currently features six scholarship outside linebackers, with returners Kaden Johnson, Darryl Peterson, T.J. Bollers and Aaron Witt, if he can remain healthy after missing the past two seasons. Tressel made it clear that those players will have great value in his scheme as well.

“We are absolutely going to use those guys and continue to recruit those guys,” Tressel said. “There is a long history of great players and great scheme to utilize those players. Those guys are on the roster right now, and they’re difference-makers. So, yes, we will continue to use those guys in a similar fashion.

“But it will have to evolve to exactly what position does each individual fit best when we’re doing some of the 3-3-5 stuff? That’s going to evolve over the course of spring and that’s going to evolve over the course of the summer. But we will continue to recruit and utilize those guys because they’re special.”

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Tressel’s 3-3-5 differs from other programs because of how he wants to use defenders in spaces and windows that offenses don’t traditionally see, particularly with linebackers and defensive backs. He can deploy different blitz pressures to confuse offenses while maintaining speed and athleticism on the outside, which should make for a fascinating matchup in practice with new Badgers offensive coordinator Phil Longo and even more intrigue during the season.

“It’s actually a little bit closer often to the 3-4 that we run here in our base defense,” Tressel said. “Normally you think 3-3-5, it’s three D-linemen with the three linebackers stacked right behind each of the three D-linemen and those guys are just runners. If you look at us, we are a little bit more of a 3-4 type of a base look with some of the space to the field being occupied by different people than your traditional 3-4. But we try to make sure that we have bodies that are in those windows, in those spaces that coach Longo is always looking for.”

Tressel was a graduate assistant on Ohio State’s staff from 2002-03 when Fickell was the special teams coordinator. He went on to be the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Cincinnati from 2004-06 and then spent 14 seasons at Michigan State in various roles, including two as the defensive coordinator.

Tressel rejoined Fickell at Cincinnati and followed him to Wisconsin last month, marking their third stop working together. Tressel called it “a no-brainer” to work with Fickell because of how much trust he has in him and said the two of them having a coaching background in the Big Ten would be important because of how much they understand the league and what it takes to win there with regard to recruiting and developing players.

“Wisconsin has definitely developed guys,” Tressel said. “It’s not maybe just bring in a whole recruiting class of five stars and throw them out on the field. So I think that background is huge. I will say the AAC experience has forced me to adapt to a ton of different styles of offense on a weekly basis. So that helps you in terms of how to coach your guys to adapt, to make adjustments, to have to play a little bit differently from week to week. So that’s been a good experience in those regards.”

Tressel spent his first month at Wisconsin out recruiting while the previous staff finished leading the team through a victory against Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. What Tressel noticed about the players he’ll be inheriting from the brief time he had around them was how devoted they were to learning about the game.

“They absolutely love ball,” Tressel said. “Shoot, I’m up here in the offices because we weren’t the ones coaching them during bowl prep. As soon as practice is over, there’s just a streamline of dudes going up to watch film on their own. The coaches aren’t even out of the shower yet and there’s kids going up there to watch film. You can just observe the intelligent questions that they ask.

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“I had fun asking them about some of the defenses they put in the bowl game that maybe involve checks and adjustments and just asking them a question. And just listening to them be able to explain it from A to Z, it’s a group of guys that love football, they’re smart football players and they play hard. So I don’t know what better combo there is.”

One intriguing element to Wisconsin’s practices that will differ from previous seasons is how well the offense is able to prepare the defense for the grind of a Big Ten season. Longo will implement a more spread-out Air Raid passing game, and Tressel said it would be important for Fickell to set up periods in which the defense gets “the smash-mouth type of football” that Wisconsin has traditionally been so good at handling.

Conditioning also likely will factor into the equation in a different way for the defense given how quickly Longo’s offenses are capable of scoring. During Longo’s four seasons at North Carolina, the Tar Heels’ average time of possession ranking nationally was 61 (30 minutes, 13 seconds per game). Wisconsin’s average time of possession ranking in that stretch was 11.5, with three seasons in the top 10 and two at No. 1 (34 minutes, 18 seconds per game, on average).

There are still plenty of questions Tressel must solve before the start of spring practice and the season opener in September. But his eagerness to get started on finding those answers is evident. He left no doubt about what he believes the ceiling is for Wisconsin football in this new era.

“National championship,” Tressel said. “That’s the ceiling, and this program can do it. We’re going to get it done.”

(Top photo: Jesse Temple / The Athletic)

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