INDIANAPOLIS – Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell and his staff spent the offseason mining the transfer portal for length and athleticism to add to the roster.
The biggest change in Year 2 of the Fickell era, however, might not be measureable.
Fickell unofficially kicked off the 2024 season Tuesday morning at Big Ten media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. His message was growing in the intangibles that go into winning games.
“We’ve got a lot of things to continue to stress in these next 39 days (before the first game of the season), but the No. 1 most important thing, the thing I’m going to stress and continue to talk about here today as well as when we get into camp is about leadership.
“As a reflect on last year and all the things you go through, not that it’s just Year 1, but when you hit adversity and when you go through the ups and downs and you really reflect on it the first thing it comes back to is leadership. Our ability since Jan. 1 to attack every aspect of the leadership within our program has been critical.”
Wisconsin went 7-6 last season and posted a 5-4 record in the Big Ten. It was a campaign that began with hopes of a Big Ten West Division title but was hampered by injuries, slow starts and the transition that comes with an entirely new coaching staff.
At their lowest points, the Badgers dropped back-to-back games to Indiana and Northwestern that dropped them to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten.
Getting better at handling those lows of the season has been a major focus this offseason.
Actually, Fickell believes growth in that regard started late last season. Wisconsin closed the regular season by winning trophy games against Nebraska and Minnesota and then put up a spirited performance in a bowl game loss to LSU .
Safety Hunter Wohler, linebacker Jake Chaney and tackle Jack Nelson, all seniors, had key roles behind the scenes in the late-season bounce back.
Their approach is one reason Fickell selected those players to represent the program this week at media day.
“It was the most adversity that we’d hit all year,” he said, “maybe that they had hit in a long time and for those guys to stand out and stand tall and really take ownership in what it is that we needed to do to push, develop and continue to develop the leadership in our own program in the midst of those times was really important.”
Here is what else we learned during Fickell’s season opening remarks:
All-American Ricardo Hallman is still underrated
The Badgers’ All-American cornerback didn’t make the trip to media day, but don’t get it twisted, Fickell loves the redshirt junior.
“Rico is a guy that I don’t think gets talked about enough,” the coach said. “I’ll let Rico speak for himself, but I know we have the utmost confidence in Rico.
“For a guy who by nature as a field corner doesn’t get as much action, he’s one of the most productive guys that I’ve been around at playing that position in particular.”
Hallman intercepted seven passes and was a third-team Associated Press All-American last season.
But to Fickell’s point, he didn’t make the the USA Today Sports Network preseason all-Big Ten team, though he received votes. He also wasn’t one of the 12 players who received preseason honors from the Big Ten’s media panel.
More: Meet USA TODAY Sports Network 2024 Preseason All-Big Ten football team, top player, coach
More: Where do Big Ten writers predict Wisconsin football will finish in the conference?
Fickell excited for a ‘coast-to-coast’ Big Ten
When you combine the addition of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington as well as first-year coaches at Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State, Fickell gained a lot of seniority among the conference’s coaches in just one season.
“I’m excited to not be the new guy,” he said. “Not the new guy because it’s Year 2 but not be the new guy because everybody is new. Even (Iowa) coach (Kirk) Ferentz is new to this coast-to-coach Big Ten. We’re all kind of newbies in some ways into what this all entails and what this all is going to bring upon us as we continue to move forward.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Luke Fickell reveals No. 1 thing he will stress to his Wisconsin team
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
