Special teams remain a question mark for Wisconsin Badgers in 2023

MADISON – Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell and his assistants didn’t spend much time working on special teams schemes in the spring. The focus was on fundamentals, in part because many of the practices were held inside the McClain Center. That made it difficult to work on kickoffs and punting.

Nevertheless, UW closed spring practice with a session heavy on special teams play. Here is how the units looked at the end of spring ball: UW appears to have two solid kickers Ohio transfer Nathanial Vakos should handle field goals and extra points. Vakos hit 19 of 23 field-goal attempts as a freshman last season and showed distance and accuracy in the spring.

He closed the spring by hitting 7 of 8 attempts. He made kicks of 33, 38, 43, 48, 49, 43 and 48 yards. His lone miss was from 43 yards.

Walk-on Nate Van Zelst, who hit 11 of 14 attempts last season for UW, should be a solid back-up. He hit 6 of 10 kicks during the final spring session, with one of the kicks blocked. Either Jack Van Dyke or Gavin Lahm could handle kickoffs.

Replacing Andy Vujnovich won't be easy Andy Vujnovich handled punts the last three seasons for UW and left with the program record for overall average (44. 3 yards). UW enters camp with three potential replacements – Austrailian Atticus Bertrams, Van Dyke and Gavin Meyers.

Bertrams committed to UW in late May, about a month after Fickell noted he wasn’t satisfied with the performances of Van Dyke and Meyers during spring ball. “I’m a little concerned,” he said on the final day of spring practice. “We’ve got to figure some things out in the punting situation.

” Bertrams signed with USC in December 2021 but never enrolled in school. He honed his game at ProKick Australia. "Atticus is a guy we've gotta see what he's got," Fickell said.

"He's gonna be thrown right into the fire with an opportunity to go compete to be the starter on Day 1. " Iowa’s Tory Taylor, one of the better punters in the nation, is from Melbourne. Georgia, TCU and Ohio State -- teams that competed in the College Football Playoff last season -- featured punters from Australia.

Fickell had two Australian punters at Cincinnati – James Smith and Mason Fletcher. Smith punted for four seasons (2017-20) and averaged 43. 6 yards.

He was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the best punter in the nation, in 2018 after averaging 46. 6 yards. Fletcher averaged 42.

9 yards as a freshman in 2021 and 46. 2 yards last season. He was a Ray Guy finalist last season.

Will the return units flourish or founder? The Badgers’ primary return men from last season are gone. Isaac Guerendo handled kickoff returns and averaged 23. 9 yards on 19 returns.

His long return was 50 yards. Dean Engram handled punt returns and averaged 5. 5 yards per return, with a long return of 24 yards.

Based on spring practices, wide receiver Chimere Dike should get the first crack on punt returns. Wide receivers Will Pauling, Dike, C. J.

Williams and Vinny Anthony worked on kickoff returns in the spring. It appears Fickell prefers to have two capable returners deep on kickoffs rather than having a returner paired with a blocker. .