Wisconsin confident improved culture will result in bounce-back year

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s players only need to go through their phones to provide evidence they’re fixing the culture issues that led to the end of the Badgers’ 22-year bowl streak last season.

Strength coach Brady Collins organized an offseason contest in which he asked players to send him a photo whenever they went out with a teammate. Players were awarded points for each photo they sent, with a prize going to the position group with the highest score.

The Badgers said those types of activities helped make them much closer than they were a year ago.

“At the start, it sounds kind of silly, but then you get into it, and it’s kind of like a game,” outside linebacker Aaron Witt said. “Then it becomes natural. It went from forcing yourself to hang out with your teammates to actually wanting to be around them.”

Wisconsin knew it had to improve its culture after going 5-7 last year for its first losing season since 2001, snapping what had been the longest active streak of bowl appearances by any Power Four team.

This isn’t quite what Wisconsin expected when it hired Luke Fickell, who went 53-10 with one College Football Playoff appearance in his final five seasons at Cincinnati. The Badgers’ chemistry lessons continue Tuesday when they continue a Fickell tradition and open preseason camp by spending 1½ weeks at Platteville, Wisconsin, about 70 miles from campus.

“Last year, I think a lot of guys kind of just gave up near the end of the season,” linebacker Christian Alliegro said. “Guys weren’t really close together and picking each other up. I think the big thing this offseason was getting the guys together and hanging out."

As it prepares to open the season Aug. 30 against Miami (Ohio), Wisconsin is relying heavily on several players who weren’t part of last year’s struggles.

The projected starting quarterback is Maryland transfer Billy Edwards Jr. Davis Heinzen, who started 36 consecutive games at Central Michigan, is likely to take over as the first-team left tackle after Kevin Heywood tore his anterior cruciate ligament in spring practice. Tennessee-Martin transfer Charles Perkins had an impressive spring and should boost a defense that allowed the second-most yards rushing per game of any Big Ten team last season.

But the Badgers also will need their returning players to remember what went wrong last year and to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. Wisconsin ended the 2024 season by losing five straight games for the first time since 1991. During that skid, the Badgers lost their three trophy games to Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota by a combined margin of 110-42.

“Every week we started to believe in ourselves a little less,” outside linebacker Darryl Peterson said. “As a leader, you take that upon yourself to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The Badgers are confident that won’t happen again because they know one another so much better. Older players were hanging out with younger players this offseason. The guys on offense spent more time interacting with their counterparts on defense.

They believe it will make a difference.

“The best teams in football are the closest teams,” offensive lineman Joe Brunner said. “They might not be the most talented, but the closest teams are what create success on the football field because you trust one another. I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to defensive guys on the team, and that’s pretty special.”

Of course, it’s easy to say that now. The true test will come the first time the Badgers encounter adversity on the field this fall.

Witt was asked Monday how he knows Wisconsin has corrected everything that went wrong a year ago.

“You don’t,” Witt said. “That’s the thing. You’ve got to play the games. Everybody’s going to stand in front of the camera and tell you we did this different, we’re tougher, we’re this, we’re bigger, we’re faster. But you’ll see it on tape. We’ll see it when games start.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football