Wisconsin defense benefitting from challenge of defending Jeff Grimes' new Badgers offense

MADISON, Wis. -- The new Wisconsin Badgers offense is pushing Luke Fickell's defense in new ways to help them prepare for the tough road ahead.

Starting safety Austin Brown and first-team linebacker Christian Alliegro likened Jeff Grimes' system to that of Penn State's during Monday's Local Media Day.

They're seeing first-hand the challenges and benefits of defending his scheme in practice.

"A lot of motions, a lot of shifts, kinda messing with your eyes," Alliegro said of the offense. "It kinda helps us linebackers prepare, just seeing so many different formations, motions, shifts."

With pre-snap movement so prevalent at the college level, getting experience communicating and altering the scheme or formation in response to the offense is a skill that will be helpful this season.

Even when an opposing offense takes a different apprkach than Grimes' system, practicing against it throughout the preseason will be useful for the defense.

"I think it is great for our development," defensive coordinator Mike Tressel said Monday. "There's a lot of challenges of eye discipline. If a guy's eyes go in the wrong place, we all know there's going to be issues."

The pace of pre-snap movements should prompt a sense of urgency among the 11 defenders on the field.

For a defense trying to play more loose and instinctual, that urgency should be a good thing.

"All the pre-snap shifts and motions, you don't have time to sit there and think," linebacker Aaron Witt said. "You have to be comfortable with your playbook top to bottom to be able to line [up] against anything."

As Wisconsin trudges toward their gauntlet of a schedule, being in a practice environment where the defense can make mistakes could lead to a more refined defense when game time rolls around.

Though, for now, Tressel is just excited to compete.

"I love the fact we're getting punched in the mouth every day, and hopefully doing our fair share of punching in the mouth as well."

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