Wisconsin Football Safety Hunter Wohler Announces Future Plans

This season, Wohler earned All-Big Ten honors from the media and coaches as well as making PFF’s All-Conference First Team.

The junior safety, played the ‘Dollar’ position for the Badgers this year in Mike Tressel’s defense. Needless to say, Wohler excelled in the role. His versatility allowed him to play all over the field. He lined up in the box by the linebackers for a majority of his snaps, but he played all over the field.

Per PFF, Wohler logged a total of 785 defensive snaps for the Wisconsin football team in 2023. Here’s a breakdown of where he lined up:

• Defensive Line: 27 snaps (3%)
• Box: 386 snaps (49%)
• Slot Corner: 130 snaps (17%)
• Outside Corner: 8 (1%)
• Free Safety: 234 (30%)

Wohler finished the season with an overall defensive grade of 86.9 (good/high quality). He also got an 82.1 (good) in run defense and 89.1 (high quality) in pass coverage.

He was easily the highest-graded player on Wisconsin’s defense. Ricardo Hallman was second with an overall grade of 82.7.

What Wohler’s Return Means for the Badgers Defense

Wohler coming back is a huge deal.

With Luke Fickell taking over the program late in 2022, he and his staff have had just about a year to implement a new defensive scheme that the roster of players didn’t necessarily fit.

The staff have been recruiting larger defensive backs than Chryst and Leonhard did. So most of the players they have brought in either through the transfer portal or out of high school are still pretty young and inexperienced.

Having Wohler for another year to help bridge the gap to future players like Amare Snowden or Raphael Dunn, who seem like the likely replacements for the Dollar position. Plus, having a guy like Wohler immediately makes your defense better.

He will also be the unquestioned leader for the defense in the locker room. During the Badgers’ losing streak this season, he made comments about holding guys accountable during the week and taking practice seriously. Between that and the overall success of the team in 2023, you can see the unfinished business that he is referring to.