The pain — both literal and figurative — of an injury-riddled season in 2015 allowed Wisconsin's offensive line to gain experience that is sure to benefit the Badgers in 2016. That positive byproduct of last year's trial by fire is already manifesting itself in a unit that has gone from being pieced together every week to one that suddenly seems to have all the pieces in place. |  From Varsity Magazine
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
Wisconsin's Joe Rudolph kept his offensive linemen on the field at the end of a recent practice long after all of the other position groups had broken up. So while some defensive players were doing media interviews, some wide receivers were catching balls off the JUGS machine and some specialists were fielding punts, the O-line strapped on their helmets and walked through some plays.
Why the extra reps?
"That's an easy one," Rudolph said. "It was a shorter practice and we had time left."
Why not?
"You want to instill in them, 'OK, the practice is over but I can work on something. I can find maybe five to 10 minutes to work on something to find a little bit of an edge,' said Rudolph, who also serves as the UW offensive coordinator. "You have to sponsor a little bit of that. But they're pretty close to the point where they're taking that over."
Veteran center Dan Voltz can speak to that growth better than most since he will be entering his fifth year in the program. With 27 career starts, he's the most experienced player on the offense. While rehabbing from a torn ACL this spring, he has been mentoring the young linemen.
The training wheels have come off.
"There's a lot of maturity being shown compared to last year," Voltz said. "There has been a lot less mental errors and dumb penalties, stuff like that. I just think it's a more mature group. We still have a long way to go but I like what I'm seeing. They're starting to grow up a bit and that's exciting."
Voltz has taken on an active teaching role during practices.
"I just look at myself as another set of eyes," he explained. "If I see something that I feel like I can correct, I'll go up to the guys after the period is done and help them out. I'm just trying to use my experience and my knowledge to help these guys out as much as I can."
Rudolph has appreciated Voltz's contributions in this non-playing capacity.
"He's coaching his tail off," said Rudolph, who hasn't added a graduate assistant since Bill Nagy left shortly after the Holiday Bowl victory over Southern Cal. "Our guys have the utmost respect for Dan and they revere him as a leader of the group. That's saying something."
Rudolph is also grateful for Voltz's selflessness given that Voltz has expressed to Rudolph that he would be willing to play another position upon his return to active status based on the steady development of Michael Deiter at center. Voltz just wants what is best for the team.
"I'll play center, I'll play guard, wherever you think I'm the best fit," Voltz told Rudolph.
"Dan came to me and brought up great reasons why he thought he could do really good at guard," Rudolph said. "You talk about an unselfish guy. That's what the mindest of a leader is, a true team person."
Last season, Voltz started the first six games at center before an elbow injury sidelined him against Purdue (Oct. 17). That necessitated a fifth different starting combination through the first seven games. Now that's really saying something -- about how Rudolph was forced to juggle his personnel.
The exception was at left tackle, anchored for all 13 games by fifth-year senior Tyler Marz.
With Voltz out, Deiter moved from left guard, where he had started six games, to center. Micah Kapoi, who had started four games at right guard, took over for Deiter on the left side and Walker Williams, who had started the first two games at right guard, returned to the lineup in that spot.
To that point, too, Rudolph was working with his third different starter at right tackle. Beau Benzschawel got his second start at Purdue after replacing Jacob Maxwell, who started against Iowa. Maxwell had taken over for Hayden Biegel, who started the first three games of the season.
Voltz came back for the Oct. 24 Illinois game only to blow out his knee. So the juggling continued -- right through the regular season finale at Minnesota where Benzschawel shifted to right guard and Maxwell got the starting assignment again at right tackle. That solidified the unit.
The Badgers had 62 rushes for 257 yards against the Gophers.
Proving that was not a fluke, they had 46 rushes for 177 yards against USC.
"That gave them a vision of what this group can be," Rudolph said. "There's some ownership there, and they approached this winter like that and they've have approached the spring so far like that. We have to take advantage of these last practices. And we have to keep the edge about them."
Winter conditioning set a positive tone as the players began honing that edge.
"First of all the guys in the weight room are off the charts -- they do a phenomenal job," Rudolph said of strength and conditioning coordinator Ross Kolodziej, whose staff includes three former UW players: tailback Jamil Walker, fullback Bradie Ewing and guard Kyle Costigan.
"I thought the approach of our linemen," Rudolph said, "was where they truly wanted to give everything they had to getting stronger -- to working on everything they could to get better and show that growth. Some of them were able to experience gains quicker than others."
And there was a good reason for that.
"We wanted to get everyone to improve their body composition — get them stronger and get them more explosive and more powerful."
"Different starting points in the off-season," said Kolodziej, who started 45 games at defensive tackle and played on back-to-back Rose Bowl teams in the late '90s.
Deiter, for example, played more game snaps than anyone.
"With guys who took on a significant work load," he said, "you want to be smart and careful. It was a long season from (training) camp to 21 straight weeks of football. Guys who had a high stress and high work load, week-in, week-out, didn't have the benefit of catching their breath until January."
With certain players, then, Kolodziej had to account for workout fatigue from the season.
"Number one, we wanted to make sure everyone was healthy going forward and ready to compete in spring ball," he said. "And, then, obviously, we wanted to get everyone to improve their body composition -- get them stronger and get them more explosive and more powerful."
The message was constant; Kolodziej's voice was unwavering.
"Our general goals were pretty much consistent across the board regardless of the position (group)," he said of his broad-based approach to winter conditioning. "Collectively, as a team, going into the off-season we wanted to know, 'Where are we at?'
"Some guys have played a lot of ball. Some guys didn't play any ball last year."
With that in mind, Kolodziej said, "We spent the first two weeks focusing more on mobility. We spent a lot of time teaching the movement patterns and laying a foundation going forward. That was across the whole team, we didn't single out a group."
"I thought it went really well," Rudolph said of the winter phase. "I think it starts with a mindset and how you want to approach stuff. If you've got that mindset, it leads to the actions that you want to see. That's where they're at right now. They've got the right mindset … their approach is what you want."
•  •  •  •
After Saturday's practice, left tackle Ryan Ramczyk (RAM-check) was engulfed by the media corps in what was his first group interview of the spring. On the periphery of the questioners were several men wearing windbreakers with the SPASH logo. They were trying to listen in.
SPASH stands for Stevens Point Area Senior High.
In 2011, Ramczyk was a first-team all-state selection as a senior at Stevens Point.
In 1995, Kolodziej was a first-team all-state selection as a senior at Stevens Point.
"Another Stevens Point guy," hooted Ramczyk, reflecting pride in his community and school. "He (Kolodziej) knows what he's doing. He has definitely gotten me a lot stronger. His program has improved my stats as far as the bench press, squat and all of that."
Kolodziej needed no introduction to Ramczyk.
A couple of his former Stevens Point coaches had alerted him to his upside.
"They all said, 'This guy has some freakish abilities,'" Kolodziej related.
Rudolph was also aware of Ramczyk during his final year on Bret Bielema's staff at Wisconsin. There was discussion then of trying to get Ramczyk to walk on. But after Rudolph followed Chryst to Pittsburgh, the thinking changed because of the O-line numbers. Pitt offered Ramczyk a scholarship.
"I was young, I wasn't ready to commit," said Ramczyk. "Coming out of high school, there was a ton of pressure. You're getting offers and it's hard to take a step back and ask, 'Is this really what I want to do?'
"I wouldn't say that I was pressured into it. But I made the decision."
Ramczyk chose Winona State, a Division II school in Minnesota.
"That's what I thought that I wanted to do at the time," he said.
But after two weeks of training camp, he admitted, "I just didn't think it was for me." So he returned to Stevens Point and enrolled at Mid-State Technical College.
Before long, he had the yearning to play football again.
"Man, I really missed it," he said.
His former coach at SPASH was Scott Rice, who had left the high school ranks for an assistant's job at UW-Stevens Point.
"He said, 'If you ever want to come out and play again, you're more than welcome here,'" Ramczyk recalled. "I took that opportunity and I got back into it. And I realized what I didn't have when I was out that year. It was like, 'Man, now I know why I'm doing this and putting all the work in.'
"Honestly," he said of what reenergized him, "It was just the love for football."
Once he reembraced the sport, he set higher goals for himself.
"I just wanted to play at the highest level that I could," he said. "I thought that I was good enough to make the next step, so I pursued it."
That led him to Wisconsin after two seasons at Stevens Point.
"In the back of my mind," he said, "I kind of thought that maybe he would remember me."
He was referencing Chryst, who did remember him. So did Rudolph.
"Not everyone is at the same point (out of high school) and knows exactly what they want," Rudolph said. "But he's definitely utilized his time wisely."
As a transfer redshirt last season, Ramczyk tested himself daily in practice against the No. 1 defense.
"It was tough," he said. "But it was huge for me to be able to learn our offense."
Ramczyk went to school on the player that he has now replaced, Marz, a three-year fixture.
"He's a very sound football player," he said, "and great technique-wise."
But the jump from the scout team to the starting lineup is bigger than most people think.
"It's a lot more intense and a lot more weight on your shoulders," Ramczyk said. "But it's an awesome opportunity to prove myself and show what I'm made of … This is obviously a big deal. As an instate guy, you see them on TV and think, 'Man, I'd love to play for the Badgers.'
"It's always been a dream of mine."
Rudolph has been encouraged by what he has seen thus far out of the 6-foot-6, 310-pound Ramczyk.
"I just kind of like everything about his approach," Rudolph said. "He's kind of quiet but he works his tail off. He enjoys the game -- you can tell that. I think that he has a skill set that can help us. I really like what he has done this spring."
Observed Voltz, "He's a hell of a player. You wouldn't think that he's a guy that hasn't had any Division I reps by the way he plays and the maturity that he shows. It's good have a guy playing like that out there -- to be kind of a role model for these young guys. To emulate him is a good thing."
Starting at left guard is a youngster, Jon Dietzen, a redshirt freshman from Black Creek.
"It's cool," Ramczyk said of playing next to Dietzen. "He's a big dude, he's a strong guy. When we get the (blocking) combinations together, we can roll some people."
"You wouldn't think that he's a guy that hasn't had any Division I reps by the way he plays and the maturity that he shows."
Returning the compliment, the 6-6, 330-pound Dietzen said, "He (Ramczyk) is one of the most athletic guys that we have on the line. It's nice having a guy like that on your outside."
Dietzen was an early enrollee last spring. And he came in a little heavy (345).
"There are a lot of bumps in the road, a lot of hiccups," he said. "There are still some growing pains even though it's my second spring. My first spring and even in the fall, it was more about leaning the playbook. Once I got it down, I had to start working on the mechanics and fine-tuning things."
Rudolph has witnessed the changes.
"I just think it has slowed down a little bit for him," Rudolph said. "Instead of thinking, 'Who do I have?' -- now you can concentrate on your pad level and your landmark. Now you're starting to have the confidence … those things that help you to play fast and help you formulate a plan."
Dietzen doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone in the weight room.
"He's phenomenally strong," Kolodziej said. "He's ridiculously strong."
But how does that strength translate in helmet and pads? "He has got to figure that out," Rudolph said, "and I've got to help him figure that out -- how to transfer that on to the field in a consistent fashion. Sometimes you will see it. Sometimes you won't."
Inconsistency is relative to any young player, including Dieter, a redshirt sophomore from Curtice, Ohio. The 6-6, 318-pound Dieter is one of the most versatile players on the O-line. He proved that last season while starting seven games at left guard and six at center. His greatest asset?
"I would say it's his love for the game," Rudolph said. "He loves the game to the point where he won't let one moment of a meeting, or a practice, or a film session go by without putting himself in the moment to get better. That's what leads to his success more than anything."
After the Badgers switched Benzschawel from right tackle to guard, it opened up the running game because of Benzschawel's prowess in pulling and leading interference for the tailbacks. Benzschawel's first action as a collegian came as a starter at Nebraska in the sixth game of the season.
"He gets off the line of scrimmage, do you know what I mean?" Rudolph posed rhetorically of the 6-6, 306-pound Benzschawel, a redshirt sophomore from Grafton. "He's a big ol' body that knocks people back when he plays with pad level. I really like the way he fits when he's out in space running."
Benzschawel and Maxwell also turned out to be a good fit on the right side.
"I like where he's at right now," Rudolph said of Maxwell, a 6-6, 319-pound redshirt sophomore from Greendale. "He has earned a lot of respect out of the group and he has come a long way. I'm excited to see that continued growth. He's got a lot of ability. He's a key piece."
So is Micah Kapoi as the No. 3 guard.
"He's as important as anyone," Rudolph said. "Dietzen has done some things to put himself in that position to earn those reps (with the first team), but Micah is kind of holding things together and allowing this whole group to grow. He's a guy who can flip from right guard to left guard with no problems. Some guys really struggle with that."
Kapoi, a 10-game starter, is a 6-3, 323-pound redshirt sophomore from Kapolei, Hawaii.
"He just works," Rudolph said. "He has some things that he has to get better at but he will be an important piece of this offensive line."
Rudolph has yet to identify a No. 3 tackle.
"I don't know if we have anyone who can do it consistently yet," he said.
David Moorman, George Panos and Kevin Estes have been battling for a backup spot.
When Voltz comes back, Brett Connors, a 6-6, 312-pound redshirt sophomore from New Berlin, could slide back to tackle where he was most of the fall. This spring, Connors has been the No. 2 center. "Brett has taken that role," Rudolph said, "and has done a good job doing that."
Incoming freshmen Cole Van Lanen and Patrick Kasi could be in the mix next fall.
"I'm excited about the guys coming in," Rudolph said. "There will be some great competition."
And that's healthy. "I definitely think that this is a group where every day is a competition and we need it to be that way," said Rudolph, "because we have to keep growing and improving."
What's the next step?
"Honestly, it comes in the run game," Voltz said. "Pass pro is very important but when you have a dominant run game, that takes care of a lot of things. When a defense fears you and what you can do with the ground game, it limits what they can do.
"I think we're better this year at running the ball than we were last spring, and that's good to see."
Especially if you're Corey Clement, Dare Ogunbowale and Taiwan Deal.
