The Badgers got some brutal news on Tuesday.
The Wisconsin Badgers faced some difficult news on Tuesday, as head coach Luke Fickell announced that starting left tackle Kevin Heywood will ‘probably’ be out for the season after tearing his ACL.
“Obviously, I think he’s gonna have to have surgery,” Fickell said about Heywood. “We’re probably going to lose him and probably not going to get him back obviously, even for the season. So that was one that’s going to be really difficult and tough, but, it’s also a part of the game.”
The news deals a huge blow to Wisconsin’s offensive line, which went injury-free in 2024 and was the biggest key to the offense. Heywood was expected to spell multi-year starter Jack Nelson as the blindside protector, and was one of the Badgers’ most heralded recruits in their 2024 recruiting class.
However, he’s expected to miss the season, leaving the Badgers scrambling in the middle of spring ball, as they’re now thinner on the offensive line, especially at tackle.
“As we came out today, it was a little bit less emotion and energy than I wanted,” Fickell said. “And we actually ended a little bit early just because the sheer fact of, you know, we weren’t going to go a two-minute situation there at the end. It’s just as you start to get a little bit thin up front on the offensive line.
“But we got to continue… This is a grown man’s league and we got to prepare and practice like grow men. And I know that’s hard.”
Wisconsin is now in uncharted territory, which means reserves will have to step up into bigger roles. Who are some of the names that are poised for bigger roles?
“We’ve been fortunate up front in the last two seasons to have those guys prepared and be able to last through the season,” Fickell said about the offensive line.
“Now, we got to have to figure out how we’re going to manage some of that and move some guys around and expect some other guys to step up, whether it’s Leyton Nelson and Emerson Mandel, and guys like that that got to step in.”
Nelson has been the swing tackle in camp, even taking reps with the first-team offense to spell one of the starting tackles at times this spring. He took first-team reps at left tackle on Tuesday with Heywood out.
Mandel, on the other hand, has been competing at right guard, and could end up as Wisconsin’s starter at the position if he wins the battle over J.P. Benzschawel and Kerry Kodanko.
Wisconsin also could turn to other options, such as moving Joe Brunner to left tackle or even Riley Mahlman over to the left side. But, there is a difficulty with making such a change, which is why Fickell is hoping that other players step up into a bigger role.
“There’s plenty of ability to move right now in where we are offensively and what we want to continue to do,” Fickell said when asked about the possibility of moving Mahlman or Brunner over. “It’s really difficult to do that even [with] a Riley [Mahlman] or a Joe [Brunner] at this moment.
“Like, we have to give other guys opportunities to step up. You know, they’ve been here for a while. They deserve, you know, that chance and that opportunity. And then as we get into the summer, we’ll figure out how we’re going to be able to fit that and what’s going to be best for us because, you got a lot of time to get guys into positions. To me, it’s still about understanding the hole and making sure we’re not taking a step backwards when you have injuries. So we’ll move forward.”
The Badgers had a number of questions entering the spring with their new-look roster and a tough schedule ahead of them in 2025. Now, they’ve got one more added to the mix and it’s a big one with the loss of Heywood, likely for the season.