Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda self-admittedly has a difficult time talking about what his defense does well. Like most people who strive for continual improvement through intense intrinsic criticism, Aranda seems to be more at ease discussing what he can do better, rather than what he’s achieved. That notion spans the entirety of the defense, and it also applies to his evaluation of the individual cogs that make it run.
His evaluation of T.J. Edwards is no exception. When asked to characterize Edwards’ 16-tackle game against Purdue last Saturday, Aranda immediately referenced a 21-yard misdirection pass to Purdue running back D.J. Knox on the Boilermakers’ first play from scrimmage in the fourth quarter. Aranda pinned the blown coverage directly on Edwards.
“That play is the best play to talk about because it was man-to-man, T.J.’s purely man on the back, but if his eyes wander on the o-line for just a second, the back’s got you,” Aranda said. “The tests like that in the run game, T.J. passed, and I’m really proud of him for that... the pass test, we’re still working on.”
While Aranda’s attention is clearly lingering on Edwards’ occasionally loose pass defense, he has no trouble expanding on his proficiency against the run, describing what he found to be an impressive display of Edwards’ developing aggressiveness on a rushing play late in the second quarter.
“I thought there was a rep in the game where [Knox], it was a run play, [Knox] ducked inside, T.J. ducked, the running back ducked out, T.J. ducked back out, T.J. tackled him and drove him back 5 yards. That’s the first time since he’s been a linebacker for the Wisconsin Badgers that he’s done that,” Aranda said.
For the redshirt freshman linebacker, the rare praise from Aranda is well-earned. Through seven games, Edwards leads Wisconsin with 54 tackles. He’s fourth on the team in tackles-for-loss, and while he has yet to record a sack, he’s broken up two passes and has forced a fumble this season.
The kicker is that Edwards has made considerable contributions despite the fact that these are his first seven starts at the position. Edwards played quarterback in high school, and he also competed in baseball and basketball, which he said helped him transition into college football.
“I think not just focusing on one sport and just kind of being an athlete,” Edwards said of his stacked sports load in high school. “That’s something my dad’s always preached to me when I was younger. Once I started seeing success in one sport, you just have to keep doing the other ones to have that well-rounded background.”
Joe Schobert, who lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track, highlighted the parallel between success at the collegiate level and being a multi-sport athlete in high school.
“Probably overlooked today, a lot of people just specialize in certain things,” Schobert said. “But in basketball you learn how to control your body in space a lot better than you do in football, when you’re jumping and getting rebounds, short burst of quickness and acceleration. In other sports, baseball, hand-eye coordination. It always helps, you can always apply different things across sports.”
Edwards fits into Aranda’s model of an ideal linebacker because of his flexible athleticism. The defensive coordinator’s scheme is predicated on using as few down linemen as possible and loading the field with players who can rush the passer, defend the run and cover the pass from anywhere on the field. That’s Edwards.
“He’s an athletic guy that is able to read body language, he’s able to be an outside linebacker, inside linebacker,” Aranda said. “We’ll move him around in different spots with different packages, doesn’t blink an eye. He’s not tied into a system or a way of thought, which could be good or bad.”
Edwards’ development under Aranda has been exponential since he arrived in Madison a year ago. Under the tutelage of Aranda, as well as graduated inside linebackers Derek Landisch and Marcus Trotter, Edwards has assimilated into a prototypical Wisconsin linebacker. His ability to efficiently read his keys and ramp up his playing speed is a result of an intense devotion to film study, a common denominator among UW linebackers since the days of Ethan Armstrong and Chris Borland, according to Schobert.
“I don’t think any of them you could say they’re the best athlete in the world or the fastest guy, but everybody is smart and they know what they’re doing,” Schobert said. “In the preparation, you start to see things when [offenses] line up in formation in games, so you’ve got ideas of what’s going on and when you know it’s going to happen you’re always going to be a step ahead of everyone else.”
Edwards is developing into a reliable asset who should be a keystone of the Wisconsin defense for years to come. Coupled with newcomer Chris Orr, a rising star in his own right, Edwards has made the interior of the Badgers’ defense a formidable place for opponents to test.
“Those two guys have stepped up this year and made a lot of plays, so hopefully offenses will start scheming those guys on the inside and start running outside sometimes,” Schobert joked.
If Edwards continues his pleasantly surprising level of play, opponents might just have to heed Schobert’s advice.
