The Wisconsin football team finally donned protective gear and began participating in live practices during camp.
Yesterday, Wisconsin took part in its fifth practice of the 2024 camp and its first practice in which they wore protective gear. Wisconsin Badgers football head coach Lukasz Fickell spoke to the media after practice and expressed his excitement about finally being able to practice live. Fickell spoke openly about the players and the team as a whole challenging themselves and he believes the best way to do that is through a lot of live practice.
Wisconsin football players don pads and practice live for first time during camp
During practice, Wisconsin football players got their first chance to put on pads and play football at full speed. Wisconsin didn’t have a lot of live practice last season, which the staff felt left the team unprepared for certain situations and scenarios. However, during camp in 2024, Wisconsin’s staff plans to focus on playing football at live speed.
Following a media availability practice, Wisconsin football head coach Lukasz Fickell I was asked specifically about running back Tawee Walker and the effect of playing live football. But Fickell took the time to answer the question in a broader way.
Fickell stated, “You can definitely see the difference, and it’s hard to see those things unless you’re playing live. Even in full gear, when you’re playing your heart out, you never really know.” The staff leader also mentioned in his response that playing live allows the staff to see what the players are ready to do on the field.
Luke Fickell: ‘We didn’t do that last camp, to be straightforward with you’
When asked about the media availability for the first time about what the day was like, Fickell said, “It was an opportunity for us to play live today and that’s what we have to do.” Fickell also added, “Honestly, we didn’t do that last camp, and you know sometimes we get nervous when we say we’re going to play live.”
The Wisconsin football coach added that “there’s a little bit of a difference between what we do every day and live. Besides the pressure, there’s more stuff that’s going to happen in space.” Fickell said the team ran 75 live plays during practice, which also marked their first situational football drills of the camp.
Wisconsin believes that playing live games and focusing on situational football drills will allow the staff to see how dynamics will affect the team. A season ago, the staff believes that dynamics played a major role in their struggles throughout the year, especially at times on defense.
Wisconsin Badgers football team corrects mistakes made at full speed
For the Wisconsin football staff, the live transition during practice is a time when players can show what they can do in space without any restrictions in the drill. Coach Fickell noted that going live and playing at full speed comes with added pressure, but he also believes the team needs to “challenge itself” at times.
Watching Wisconsin football last season showed that the team never seemed confident playing at top speed. One of the biggest and most noticeable changes between each level of play is the speed of the game, and playing college football at a slower pace has caused the team to struggle. The Badgers are looking to fix that problem both through better preparation and an abundance of live play throughout camp.
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