Redshirt sophomore cornerback Dontye Carriere-Williams announced that he would be leaving the Badgers’ football program.
Carriere-Williams tweeted an announcement on Wednesday night that he’s been granted a full release just two days before No.4 Wisconsin opens up the 2018 season against Western Kentucky.
After playing in all 14 games last season with five starts, Carriere-Williams was the only player at the cornerback position with any meaningful game experience heading into the start of this season.
Carriere-Williams played as the Badgers’ No. 3 cornerback last season behind Nick Nelson and Derrick Tindal. He entered spring practice as a favorite to take over one of the starting roles, but Carriere-Williams was relegated to second team reps midway through camp. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard told to reporters at that time that Carriere-Williams needed to show more consistent effort in practice.
"Right now, in having conversations with him as well, it is just consistency," Leonhard told reporters of Carriere-Williams earlier this month. "The highs are high, and they've been high. It's just consistency and effort in practice, and just continuing to push that. I like some of the things he's done, but I just want to see more.”
Carriere-Williams's departure likely means redshirt freshman cornerback Deron Harrell, who made the switch from wide receiver to cornerback this offseason, will move up and into the two-deep alongside sophomore cornerback Madison Cone.
