JD PicKell: Why Wisconsin could make a big jump in 2023 with Luke Fickell’s ‘new formula’

Seemingly every football season there’s a handful of teams that make take an unexpected leap and step in the right direction. And according to On3’s JD PicKell, Wisconsin could be one of those teams this season. Under the new leadership of head coach Luke Fickell, PicKell has some pretty strong feelings about the Badgers heading into the 2023 season.

“It’s no secret, I like Wisconsin. I like Wisconsin a whole heck of a lot,” PicKell admitted. “Luke Fickell knows how to win games, I’ll be real with y’all, I have a crush on Wisconsin. Let’s not make it weird, let’s just keep this thing moving. For me, Wisconsin is all about the formula that’s being tweaked in Madison, I trust the new formula they’re going to go with.”

Wisconsin has historically had a physical, blue-collar reputation. A reputation that PicKell doesn’t think is going anywhere anytime soon despite the new changes.

“Because think about what Wisconsin has been historically, three tight ends, playing with fullbacks. You have visions of neck rolls on the offense at the fullback and tight end position that comes to mind, like that’s kind of the identity they’ve been previously,” PicKell said. “Now the good news is for Wisconsin fans, I don’t think that identity is going anywhere. They’re still going to be physical, they’re still going to want to absolutely beat the ever living snot out of you, that’s going to be what they still want to do.”

Wisconsin has relied on being physical at the line of scrimmage as a part of their success for quite some time. That physicality paired with more nuanced play calling under new offensive coordinator Phil Longo and come new weapons could provide all of the perfect ingredients for a perfect offensive attack.

“However, like I said, the formula is being tweaked, so you take another element of the arial assault that Phil Longo’s bringing to the table, that Tanner Mordecai’s bringing to the table. You went and hauled in quite a few transfer portal wide receivers, you bring that to the table. So now what does that mean?” PicKell asked. “Physical identity plus wanting to sling the ball around the yard a fair amount, what does that mean, it means you have an opportunity to be balanced. And balanced football teams play complimentary football and they usually win a lot of football games.”

Outside of schematic and personnel changes, Wisconsin has a few other factors that could play in their favor this upcoming season. Factors that PicKell believes makes the Badgers poised to take a leap this year.

“So last year Wisconsin, they won six games in the regular season, Luke Fickell showed up, won a bowl game. To be real he’s undefeated at Wisconsin, never lost so far. I think the formula change works, I would not be surprised if we saw Wisconsin win somewhere around nine games in 2023. Keep in mind too, the Big Ten West is wide open, it is as open as it gets. I think Wisconsin, they have a very real chance to make some noise in that side of the division and potentially make some noise within that conference. So I like Wisconsin to be one of my riser teams and to be the team that makes the biggest leap, for my money at least, in the Big Ten,” PicKell said.

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