Usually, when a team is on its third defensive coordinator in three years, it means something has gone terribly wrong with a revolving door at a critical position of leadership.
But for the No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers (1-0 Overall), it means things have gone exceptionally well.
Whether it was Dave Aranda or Justin Wilcox calling the plays, Wisconsin’s defense was one of the top groups in the nation the past two seasons. And as a result, both play-callers were hired away to bigger and better opportunities.
The Badgers are already on their way to another strong season early in 2017 with Jim Leonhard running the show, as they prepare for Florida Atlantic (0-1) this Saturday.
A safety in the NFL for 10 years, Leonhard joined his alma mater as defensive backs coach in 2016 before taking over this defensive coordinator job in just his second year on the sidelines, inheriting a strong and experienced group.
The task was not too tall for the undersized former defensive back in his first game on the job last week against Utah State.
“The only thing that was different was that he was calling the plays, but as far as everything else, he was just smooth,” senior cornerback Derrick Tindal said. “He looked like he had been there before.”
Certainly, the talented players Paul Chryst and company have recruited deserve plenty of the credit, and retaining assistant coaches through defensive regime changes has been an underrated benefit, but the defensive coordinator is the glue that holds it all together, and the adhesive remains strong in Madison so far.
“Every coach is different. Every coach has his own little twist and different things they do,” redshirt junior linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “Coach Leonhard likes to let us make plays. He’s a guy who trusts us and lets us run those blitzes and give us those opportunities to make those plays because he believes that we can make them.”
Leonhard’s belief was well founded in last Friday’s game. After a slow start by Wisconsin on both sides of the ball, it took a big interception by Edwards and this Badgers’ defense to spark the whole team at the end of the first half.
“When things were going bad, he came over and settled us down and gave us kind of a talk and that was it,” Edwards said. “He knows the ups and downs of the game and the adversity that happens, so it’s good to have him there to get you going when you need to, and he’ll calm you down when he needs to.”
The Badgers’ defense will face adversity this week against FAU as it takes on another up-tempo offense like the one that gave them trouble early on last week.
However, FAU doesn’t take a mastermind defensive schemer to build a top-10 defense. Leonhard did throw in a handful of creative blitz packages in certain situations against Utah State, but that’s not his secret to success.
The Badgers’ defense continues to play well because Leonhard builds that trust between players and coaches. The staff on the sideline is confident in the 11 guys on the field to go out and make plays, and the players are confident that their coaches will put them in the best position to be successful.
“The biggest thing that stood out was the confidence in one another,” senior safety D’Cota Dixon said. “When one guy makes a play, it becomes contagious, and guys start to kind of trust that, ‘Hey, we’re in this thing. We can do this.’ So I think that was really big.”
As that trust continues to grow between players and coaches, this Wisconsin defense will continue to find a way to be in the right place at the right time, to make plays and perform like the elite unit it knows it’s capable of being.
