The offseason buzz around Wisconsin football has centered on the newcomers, and that makes sense. The Badgers brought in 47 new players, and a big chunk of the starting lineup is expected to come from that group of freshmen and transfers. With names like quarterback Colton Joseph and tailback Abu Sama among the sure things, plus developmental additions such as outside linebackers Liam Danitz and Jayden Loftin, Wisconsin turned over roughly a third of its roster.
That kind of change naturally puts a spotlight on the players who are already in place. For a few returning starters, this fall is about more than just holding onto a job. It’s about showing they can take another step.
One of those players is safety Austin Jung, who heads into his fifth year of college football with plenty still on the table. Jung was supposed to begin his Wisconsin career as a backup, but an injury to starter Preston Zachman pushed him into action right away in one of the toughest possible settings: a road game against Alabama. The Badgers’ secondary got picked apart by Ty Simpson that day, and Jung was part of the struggle.
He settled in as the season went on, though. By the end of the year, he wasn’t a headline-grabber, but he was clearly more comfortable on the back end.
The game slowed down for him by November, and his best moment may have come against Washington, when he broke up a pass on the Huskies’ final third down of the game. Jung finished tied for third on the team with 49 tackles, and his invite to Chicago for Big Ten Media Day says plenty about the respect he’s earned.
Still, Wisconsin needs more than steady leadership from the Neenah native. The Badgers need him to keep climbing and add a few splash plays this season.
Wisconsin’s starting offensive guards, Joe Mandell and Joe Cubberly, also enter the year with something to prove. The two are practically linked, having spent their third season in the program together and now returning as projected starters on the interior.
Both got a strong dose of starting experience last season, and Mandell was asked to play out of position at right tackle. This year, he moves back to his natural spot at guard alongside Cubberly.
They’re built the same way, too. Both are listed at 325 pounds on the updated fall roster, with Cubberly standing a bit taller at 6-foot-6.
They’re big, physical linemen, and if their development keeps moving in the right direction, Wisconsin should have a powerful interior pair. But potential only goes so far.
The Badgers are counting on both players to justify that trust and keep growing on what should be a more stable offensive line.
Then there’s wide receiver Chris Brooks Jr., who may have even more to prove than the others. Like Jung, he’s become a symbol of what Wisconsin wants in a program leader. He stayed in Madison through multiple season-ending injuries, and last fall he finally got his chance, starting 10 of 12 games for the first time in his career.
The production never matched the opportunity. Brooks finished with 11 catches for 124 yards, though that has to be viewed through the lens of Wisconsin’s inconsistent quarterback play and an offense that was comically bad at times.
Even so, the next step is obvious. The coaching staff has shown faith in him, and now he has to turn the intangibles into real numbers.
At 6-foot-2 and 224 pounds, he’s likely Wisconsin’s best blocker on the outside, which should keep him on the field. The question is whether he can finally emerge as a true receiving threat.
In Other News...
CBS Sports Just Gave Wisconsin A Label Badgers Fans Will Notice
Wisconsin is getting a little preseason respect in an unexpected place, with CBS Sports writer Tom Fornelli floating the Badgers as a Big Ten dark horse for 2026 on the Cover 3 Podcast. His case was built on a handful of reasons that should sound familiar to anyone who watched the last few seasons unfold in Madison, from the injury pileup that kept forcing the roster deeper and deeper into the chart to a defense that has still given the team a foundation to work with.
Fornelli also pointed to the changes around the offense, including transfer help and a run game under Jeff Grimes that is moving into a second year. But what really pushed Wisconsin into his dark-horse conversation was the schedule, which he sees as a path for the Badgers to make noise if the rest of the pieces fall into place. For a fan base that has spent plenty of time waiting for things to break right, that kind of outside optimism is at least worth noting. [Read more 🡒]
John Tonje Just Got The NBA Chance Badgers Fans Wanted
John Tonjes next step is finally on the NBA track, with the former Wisconsin standout landing a two-way contract for the 2026-27 season. It is the kind of opportunity Badgers fans had been waiting to see, and it gives him a real path to split time between the league and the developmental ranks while he tries to carve out a longer-term role.
Tonje will also have a familiar name alongside him in Micah Potter, another former Badgers player who is already on the same roster. Potter has spent time with multiple NBA teams and logged a sizable role last season, so the connection gives Wisconsin fans one more reason to keep an eye on how this situation develops once camp and the season get rolling. [Read more 🡒]