Wisconsin DC Mike Tressel: Badgers leadership is 'completely different' entering 2024

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Mike Tressel is impressed with what he’s seen from the team’s veterans on defense entering the 2024 season.

He shared his sentiment with the Big Ten Network crew as they made their annual trip to the Badgers fall training camp. The focus: the presence of senior safety Hunter Wohler and linebacker Jake Chaney.

“I think the leadership is completely different in terms of those guys really hold their teammates accountable,” Tressel said. “It’s so much better when the players hold each other accountable than when the coaches get involved in that. That is so much better.”

Wohler and Chaney both return after finishing 2023 as two of the Badgers’ statistical leaders. That season, as explained by many, was unique in that it was an adjustment period for everybody, head coach on down. It’s reasonable to assume that setting created an unusual dynamic, especially for the previous leaders under Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard who elected to stay after Fickell’s hire.

That dynamic is all gone entering 2024. Wohler and Chaney are two of the team’s senior leaders on defense, and have clearly left a positive impression on their coordinator.

“The other thing is we’ve challenged them to be problem solvers. We’ve put them in positions to see some things that they haven’t seen during practice or on film,” Tressel continued. “And have them communicate and be the problem solvers. Because we weren’t great in opening scripts last year. That’s when you see the stuff you haven’t seen in practice. So we’ve put that on their plates and they’ve done well.”

Tressel, Wohler and Chaney are looking to lead the Wisconsin defense to an improvement after a solid performance in 2023. That unit finished ranked No. 21 in the nation in scoring defense (20.2 points per game) and No. 39 in total defense (344 yards allowed per game). The 2024 group is expected to be better with another year of continuity, aided by a host of transfer additions at linebacker and defensive line.

That improvement, in Tressel’s eyes, will also come due to the growing leadership of Wohler and Chaney at the center of the unit.

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