Last season UW tackle Joe Thomas established himself as the most dominant lineman in the country. The 6'8' 313-pound Brookfield, Wis., native earned first team All-Big Ten honors, first team All-American honors and also won the Outland Trophy awarded to the nation's top offensive lineman.
Yet, while scouts and so-called experts will spend the next several weeks debating Thomas' ranking for the 2007 NFL Draft, the four returning Badger starting offensive linemen will be hard at work preparing for another season of smash-mouth football.
Fifth-year senior center Marcus Coleman acknowledged that Thomas would be missed, but also said the offensive line needs to pick up where it left off last year.
""We all love Joe and we know he was a great player,"" Coleman said. ""But [at] Wisconsin, we're just trying to reload.""
Sophomore Jake Bscherer and freshman Gabe Carimi have split time at left tackle with the first team offense in spring practice. Both have struggled at times, and offensive line coach Bob Palcic said the position remains wide open.
""There's not a clear frontrunner for the position yet,"" Palcic said. ""It's way too early. It probably won't be decided until we get well into fall camp.""
Although both Bscherer and Carmini have a lot to learn, they are surrounded by one of the most experienced units in the Big Ten.
Coleman has played in 30 games in his college career and started at center in all 13 contests last season, earning All-Conference honorable mention.
Like Coleman, junior right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel was a Big Ten honorable mention selection last season. Junior left guard Andy Kemp started all 13 games in 2006.
Head coach Bret Bielema said right guard Kraig Urbik has shown the most consistency on the line this spring.
""I think Kraig is probably, out of that group collectively, is doing things as good as anybody and is really trying to take a step forward,"" Bielema said. ""He's ... going into his third year of being a starter. Hopefully he can begin to do some of those little things that we are going to need out of that position.""
Palcic also noted Urbik's improvement. ""Kraig Urbik is having a real good spring,"" Palcic said. ""He's really worked on his pass protection and his hand placements and ... I think he's going to be a good leader for us.""
As a junior who has started 26 consecutive games, Urbik has all the experience of a veteran leader.
""I'm not really much of a hoot and hollering guy,"" Urbik said. ""I just try to go out there and lead by example, but sometimes people need a kick in the butt to get going.""
Last season the Badger offensive line frequently kicked its opponents' butts off of the line of scrimmage as they helped freshman running back P.J. Hill rush for a conference best 1,569 yards.
This season, UW must prove it can still manhandle defenses without No. 72 on the line.
""Everyone can say ‘no one's going to be as good as Joe Thomas,'"" Urbik said. ""But I think if I were Gabe or Jake, I'd be putting it on myself to say, ‘I can be just as good as Joe.'""
