Wisconsin’s offensive line is set to lean on Colin Cubberly again, and the early read is encouraging. After being pressed into action last season as a redshirt freshman, the projected starting left guard enters 2026 with a much clearer path and, by all accounts, a much better grasp of what he needs to be.
Cubberly made his first career start in Week 2 against Middle Tennessee State, when the Badgers were forced to reshuffle up front after Davis Heinzen’s meltdown at left tackle. It was a solid debut, but it also showed how much room he still had to grow.
That’s not exactly surprising for a player who was tossed into the fire because of injuries and shaky roster construction. Last fall was a trial by fire, and it’s tough to draw a clean conclusion from it.
What matters more now is the spring he put together. Offensive line coach Eric Mateos said Cubberly has made major progress.
“He’s learning how to play more under control, play with his cleats in the grass, not play as top heavy as he did last season. I feel that he’s one of the most improved players I’ve had in a while from a season to a spring,” Mateos said this spring.
That kind of jump matters because Cubberly is now positioned to handle Wisconsin’s starting left guard job, which will essentially make 2026 his second season as a full-time starter. If the development keeps trending the right way, he has a chance to become a very good run blocker. The style is already there: physical, nasty, and the kind of presence that gets noticed by teammates and coaches.
Star linebacker Mason Posa said he “Does a little extra stuff after plays. He’ll deny that," while Mateos added that Cubberly is "Just kind of like a dirtbag." For an offensive lineman, that edge can absolutely work - as long as the fundamentals stay sharp and the temper stays in check.
Mateos also pointed to a shift in how Cubberly sees himself, and that may be the biggest reason for optimism.
"I like how he views himself. He’s gone through a transformation of how he views himself.
I think he kinda viewed himself as, ‘hey, I’m a contributor. I wanna try and not spill the milk.’
That’s kinda how he played last season. ‘I wanna hurt people, but I don’t wanna mess up.'
That’s kinda how his film looked as a redshirt freshman," the coach said.
The floor here isn’t especially scary. If things go sideways, Cubberly probably just plays worse than he did a year ago.
But with the way he’s been described this spring, that looks like a pretty remote outcome. Wisconsin has plenty of players on that kind of upward climb, and Cubberly is one of them.
The one area that still needs work is pass protection. Mateos made it clear that’s where the biggest gap remains, and if Cubberly stumbles this fall, it would likely show up there.
“We’ve still got a long long ways to go. We’ve gotta get better in our drop back pass sets, we gotta get better in poor hand placement and protection," Mateos said of the lineman.
Cubberly may not be headed for All-Big Ten territory in his third lap around the track, but he looks like a reliable Big Ten starter with room to keep growing. That’s enough to make him a key piece for Wisconsin this fall, and the expectation here is that he settles in as a slightly above-average Big Ten offensive guard.
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The most useful part of the evaluation is how many of these transfers are already being slotted into starting or key depth jobs, because that is usually where a new offense either finds stability or keeps searching for it. A few names stand out as potential tone-setters, and the next layer of the story is how the staff sorts out the rest of the hierarchy behind them, especially in a room where one more decision could shape the depth chart for the entire season. [Read more 🡒]