Wisconsin’s sixth fall camp practice brought out some of the sharpest work the Badgers have shown so far, and a handful of players kept stacking plays under the August sun.
The biggest offensive spark came from second-year receiver Jayden Hilton, who looked as good as he has all camp. He opened the first 11-on-11 period with the starters, lining up with Chris Brooks Jr. and Tyrell Henry, and wasted no time making his presence felt. Hilton hauled in a wide-open deep ball in the back of the end zone on a play-action throw from Colton Joseph, then followed that up with another red-zone touchdown in 7-on-7s, dragging his feet at the sideline as he lunged to secure the catch.
His most impressive grab came later, when Joseph fired a longer throw just outside the red zone and Hilton made the catch in heavy traffic up the seam in the back of the end zone. A defender was draped all over him, but Hilton still came down with it.
By the end of team periods, he had five touchdowns between 7s and 11s. He also flashed in 1-on-1s, where he showed a suddenness at the top of his route and shook both Marvin Burks Jr. and Cairo Skanes for easy scores.
Hilton is going to start.
Joseph turned in his strongest practice of camp as well. He did have a couple of shaky moments, including two passes thrown into traffic that fell harmlessly to the turf, but those were the exceptions. Most of the time, he looked sharp, athletic and in command, using his legs well and putting the ball where he wanted.
His best play came in red-zone 11-on-11 work. When the pocket collapsed, Joseph escaped to his right and, just before he ran out of room, fired a laser on the move to Hilton in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
He made sure the defensive sideline heard about it afterward. The encouraging part for Wisconsin was that Joseph wasn’t just thriving in 7-on-7s and skeleton work; he was effective in full-team periods too, which had been the bigger question coming into Wednesday.
It was a highly encouraging session from QB1.
Tight end Lance Harris also kept building momentum. The 6-6, 270-pound target had been relatively quiet earlier in camp, but Wednesday was a different story.
His size keeps creating problems for defenders, and his soft hands are starting to show up more consistently. Harris scored in both 11-on-11s and 7-on-7s, catching touchdowns from Colton Joseph and Deuce Adams.
Even if tight ends don’t end up being a huge piece of the offense, Harris looks like the receiving threat he was advertised to be.
On the other side of the ball, safety Preston Jung was everywhere early. On the first play of the first 11-on-11 period, he blew up a Colton Joseph keeper that would have gone for a tackle for loss.
A few snaps later, Tyrell Henry tried to run through him on a jet sweep, and Jung stood him up with a clean form tackle. He also showed up in 1-on-1 work, where he matched the bigger Jackson McGohan on an in-breaking route and got a hand on the ball at the catch point.
Jung doesn’t need to prove much in camp, but it was still a strong reminder of how active he can be when the defense is hunting for splash plays.
In the cornerback group, Florida State transfer Cai Bates added his own case for playing time. While much of the attention has been on Jai’mier Scott and Arizona State transfer Javan Robinson, Bates looked the part too.
He won a 1-on-1 rep against Jaylon Domingeaux on a fade, staying with him stride for stride before elevating and knocking the ball away at the catch point. Later, he also showed his willingness to throw his body around in 11-on-11s, flying off the edge to help stuff the tailback for a very short gain.
With the way Bates has been performing, Robert Steeples appears to have four playable outside corners in his room: Bates, Scott, Robinson and Eric Fletcher.
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