What If?

I was watching some of last Thursday's NFL game, and as always JJ Watt was making great plays. He is without a doubt the best defensive player in the league this season. That got me thinking: what would have happened if he had stuck around for another season at Wisconsin? That would have been the Russell Wilson year, and maybe he would've been able to get pressure on Kirk Cousins so that damn hail mary never would've happened. In my 5 years at UW, we always had good teams, but never were good enough to compete for a national championship. Made it to 3 Rose Bowls,and that's nice, but we couldn't even win one. Each year I attended UW, I felt we were great in certain spots but lacking at others. So I thought of an idea of trying to put together the best badger team from my 5 years there (from the 2009 to the 2013 season) and seeing if they would have been good enough to win a national championship. Many of these guys were on the team together, but just didnt start at the same time. This is imagining if they would have all been starting together during their best years as a Badger. Here's what I came up with.

QB: Russell Wilson. This one's a no-brainer. He's one of the best in the NFL right now. Scott Tolzien was a decent college qb, and would have been a huge upgrade over the Phillips/Stave duo in 2012/13. Curt Phillips has to be the worst qb to ever start a Rose Bowl.

RB: Melvin Gordon. Running back has been the one constant for the Badgers, and they may have their best one yet playing for them right now. It was tough picking someone over touchdown machine Montee Ball, but Gordon is by far the best athlete of the bunch and might be the most explosive runner the Badgers have ever had. I think he'll do big things in the NFL. James White and John Clay were solid backs as well.

FB: Bradie Ewing. Pretty much between Ewing or Derek Watt here, both are solid players, but I'll go with Ewing, who was also a solid receiving fullback and became a 5th round draft pick.

WR: Jared Abbrederis and Nick Toon.  Badger fans are longing for the days when we had reliable receiving options. Abbrederis is the clear cut top choice here, as he always was able to make big plays even with Joel Stave at quarterback. Toon was a pretty easy choice for the #2 WR. He may not have been as much of a big play threat as Abbrederis, but made plenty of catches in key situations and caught plenty of touchdowns, especially with Russell Wilson at QB his senior year. In the '09 and '10 seasons Isaac Anderson and David Gilreath were also solid receiving options.

TE: Lance Kendricks: Tight end has been another position where the Badgers have had consistency over the years. Kendricks is a pretty easy choice here though. Out of the tight ends the Badgers have had over this time period, Kendricks was by far the most athletic. He ended up being a 2nd round pick of the Rams, who he has been a solid contributor for over the years. Garrett Graham and Jacob Pedersen also had good college careers and have had NFL opportunities as well.

LT: Gabe Carimi: It was between Carimi and Ricky Wagner here. Wagner has definitely been the better pro, but this team is based on college performance. In college, Carimi was a beast and ended up being a 1st round pick and Outland trophy winner. Gotta go with Carimi.

LG: John Moffitt: Pretty clear choice here, as Moffit was a good player, as well as a fan favorite who usually had something good to say for the "Ask the Badgers" segment at home games. He ended up being a 3rd round pick.

C: Travis Frederick: You could take either Frederick or Peter Konz here and couldn't go wrong. Frederick switched from guard to center his senior season and did a good enough job to convince Jerry Jones to use a 1st round pick on him, which isn't easy to do. Konz was a late 2nd round pick, so I'll go with Frederick here.

RG: Kevin Zeitler: Another pretty easy choice. Zeitler was a 3-year starter who became a 1st round pick. It looks like Kyle Costigan will also end up being a 3 year starter at RG, but I doubt he'll be a high draft pick.

RT: Ricky Wagner: This was a tough one. It's between Josh Oglesby or Rob Havenstein, or I could cheat and go with Rick Wagner, who played 1 season at RT but was primarily an LT. Havenstein is huge but isn't great. Oglesby was an ok player but by no means was a great Badger lineman, and it always seemed like he was hurt. I think I'll just take Wagner.

DE #1: JJ Watt.  I don't even need to explain this one.
DE#2: O'Brien Schofield: Schofield is probably the best choice here. He had a strong final season in 2009 with the Badgers. I remember hearing the PA announcer say "Stopped. and dropped. " followed by his name many times that year. He was a 4th round pick and is contributing on the Seahawks defense. The only other player I really considered for this spot was Louis Nzegwu, a decent player who had a key defensive touchdown in the 2012 Rose Bowl.

DT: Beau Allen and Ethan Hemer: This was a tough position to pick, as there were plenty of solid players but not really any standouts. Allen and Hemer both were major contributors and Hemer started for the majority of his 4 years, so I'll go with them. Also, Allen is the perfect Badger to handle the axe after the annual win vs. Minnesota.

OLB: Mike Taylor and Jaevery McFadden: Taylor is a clear choice as he stepped in as a freshman and became one of the best players on the Badgers defense and made a few all-Big 10 teams. The other spot was pretty much a toss-up, as there were several good players, but kind of like DT, not many standouts. I could have gone with someone like Blake Sorensen or Ethan Armstrong, but I'll go with McFadden, who led the Badgers in tackles in 2009. 

MLB: Chris Borland: Easy choice here. Borland was pretty much the face of the Badgers defense during this "era". He won the Big 10 defensive player of the year award last season and even appeared on some All-America teams. ( I really wish there was a spot available for Culmer St. Jean, however. By far my favorite name to hear announced during games)

CB:Devin Smith and Antonio Fenelus: This was a tough call. This was easily the weakest part of defense over these years. I had to try and think of who got burned deep the least. From what I can remember, Smith didn't get burned that often and made some good plays on the ball. While Fenelus definitely had his bad moments, I feel like he came up with enough interceptions to deserve the starting spot on this team. I had to choose these guys over the likes of Niles Brinkley, Marcus Cromartie, and Sojourn Shelton. Not exactly the "Legion of Boom" secondary we're working with here. 

SS: Jay Valai: Pretty easy pick over the other options, Shelton Johnson and Dez Southward. Valai was a hard hitter who didn't make nearly as many mistakes as the other two. 

FS: Aaron Henry: Tough call here between Henry and Chris Maragos. Both were playmakers from the safety spot. Maragos made some plays at key moments, although I feel like Henry made them more often. 

K: Philip Welch: He actually could make field goals, unlike Kyle French or Jack Russell. 

P: Brad Nortman: He actually got drafted, which is extremely rare for a punter. 

KR/PR: David Gilreath: Great return man, but he also provided the greatest moment at Camp Randall while I was at UW.                                  

                         

So there it is, if the timing would have been right and these guys all could have been on the field at the same time, I would have liked their chances to at least compete for a national championship.