The defensive backfield for the Wisconsin football team will be without the familiar faces of the graduated Jim Leonhard, Scott Starks and Robert Brooks next fall, but stiff competition at all four positions has everyone in the secondary stepping up their game.
Defensive backs coach Ron Lee has eight players with game experience, half of whom have started games for UW, but he knows his young squad has plenty of room for improvement.
\Practice is going well, and we're improving,"" Lee said. ""I think that from the first day to today we've improved greatly, but we've still got a long way to go.""
At the cornerback position, seniors Levonne Rowan and Brett Bell sit atop the depth chart, but with Bell sitting out spring practice after off-season knee surgery, redshirt freshman Allen Langford has taken over the top spot. Redshirt freshman and Madison native Jack Ikegwuonu is close behind Rowan at the other corner position.
In the absence of Brett Bell, sophomore Ben Strickland has been getting reps at the cornerback position in practice behind Langford. Strickland saw special teams action in all 12 games last season and blocked a punt in the team's victory over Northwestern.
Rowan started nine games as a sophomore and ended spring practice last season with the starting spot, but Bell was close behind, ready to challenge Rowan for the starting job last fall.
A foot injury slowed Rowan in preseason camp and allowed Bell to move past him on the depth chart. Bell took the starting spot and never looked back on his way to an honorable mention All-Big Ten season.
Bell started all 12 games for the Badgers last year. He was tied for the team lead in interceptions and passes broken up and was third on the team in tackles.
""Brett's on the sideline with an injury, but he's our senior leader. He's always out there giving us praise and telling us what to do and we really look up to him,"" Strickland said. ""And the same with Levonne Rowan-he's a senior, he's got playing time and we look to him for our leadership too.""
Rowan's action last season was limited to nickel back and special teams situations, but now, holding a starting spot once again, Rowan is ready to play well and be a leader to his teammates.
""Practice is going well,"" Rowan said. ""Coach Lee has been on me a lot. He expects a lot out of me. With Brett hurt, I'm the only senior back there, so I just want to stay focused and consistent and set a good example.""
At just over six feet, and weighing just under 200 pounds, Rowan is the ideal size for a cornerback, and he has exceptional speed, running the 40-yard dash in 4.31 seconds at the pro-timing day in February.
The challenge for Rowan, according to Lee, is transferring his speed to the field and playing football at that 4.3 speed, which Lee said Rowan is working hard and improving at.
Joining Rowan and Langford at the top of the spring depth chart are junior free safety Roderick Rogers and junior strong safety Johnny White. Both players saw playing time in 2003 as true freshmen, and again last season.
Right behind Rogers and White are juniors Zach Hampton and Joe Stellmacher. Both have game experience and Stellmacher has a start under his belt at strong safety in 2003.
""The competition for the safeties has really become intense, with Joe Stellmacher right on Johnny's heels and Zach Hampton right on Roderick Rogers' heels,"" Lee said. ""It's making them compete and that's what you want.""
The emergence of young players in the defensive backfield keeps older, more experienced players from becoming complacent and motivates them to improve.
""It's critical that those young guys come along-Jack and Allen-as well as Ben Strickland. All three of those guys have stepped up to the plate, and it has helped everyone improve,"" Lee said.
It's never easy for a position to lose three of its four starters, especially when one of them is an All-American and another won ESPN's Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year, but the Badger defensive backs feel confident about their abilities and look forward to the 2005 season.
""I feel really good,"" Rowan said. ""We graduated a lot of talent, but a lot of our guys have a lot of playing experience in the secondary, so I feel really good about our chances for next year.\
