Wisconsin could lose key member on defense for entire season

As the Wisconsin Badgers started putting the finishing touches on preseason action, they received bad news on the defensive front. Defensive lineman James Thompson Jr. is likely to miss the entire 2024 season due to injury.

The school described the injury as “upper body”, and Thompson already underwent surgery for recovery. Head coach Luke Fickell spoke Monday about the loss of Thompson.

Now he’ll be in a little bit of a different role for us this year. I don’t know that we’ll have a chance to get him back…It doesn’t look like James is probably going to make it. I don’t know that we’ll have him for the year. There’s a lot of things that are still, we’ve got to wait and see. I don’t know if it’s a four- to five-month thing.

Thompson was going to be the most experienced defensive lineman on the roster.  He made 11 starts last season and recorded 29 tackles, which was the most on the team.

Wisconsin has gone 7-6 in each of the past two seasons. When the Associated Press Top 25 poll came out for the preseason, the Badgers were not in the rankings.

The Badgers will start the season Friday night against the Broncos of Western Michigan.