Luke Fickell on Tanner Mordecai, new offense, coaching staff, more

MADISON — Luke Fickell met with reporters Monday morning as Wisconsin prepares to launch its spring practice period. With UW's pro day scheduled for Thursday and practices set to kick off Saturday, it's no wonder it feels like "Christmas morning" for Fickell, as he put it.

Below, BadgerBlitz.com outlines some of the key takeaways from Fickell's press conference.

The headliner from Wisconsin's elite transfer class, which checks in at No. 11 on Rivals' transfer class rankings, is, of course, gunslinger Tanner Mordecai. All signs point to the former SMU quarterback taking over for Graham Mertz when the season kicks off. As expected, there's only so much you can learn about a quarterback before the pads and plays come out, but so far, Fickell likes what he sees.

"Tanner in particular, he’s done a phenomenal job. He’s been everything that I hoped for in the sense that he came in, kinda kept his mouth shut, went to work. (He) proved a lot of things, I think, not just to me and the coaches but to the players," Fickell said.

"Mordecai in particular has been a great example. I think he’s embraced the unique cultures and the guys in that locker room, and hasn’t walked in and expected to be handed anything. He’s done it in a humble way, with an incredible work ethic.”

Mordecai is expected to begin spring ball atop the depth chart at quarterback. Fickell will hope he can make as good of a first impression on the football field as he did in the locker room.

Much of the offseason hype surrounding Wisconsin football is the apparent renaissance their offense is about to undergo at the hands of Phil Longo. Longo's spread, air-raid system will look very different from the ground-and-pound, pro-style offense the Badgers have run for decades. The wide receivers, Fickell notes, are especially excited about the new opportunities awaiting them.

"I think in particular the wide outs are excited (because) hey, there’s more of them on the field, right? If there’s three of them on the field when there was maybe only two in the past, maybe only one at times. They all like it when there’s more opportunities for them, whether it’s to be on the field, whether it’s to actually have the ball in their hands, that’s what they enjoy," Fickell said.

The new offense will also pose challenges for Badgers receivers as they adopt to a completely new system, and Fickell was quick to note that, too.

"But I think there’s some stress to it as well," he observed. "Learning a new system, asking them to do some things, ‘hey I want you to lose weight, I want you to be smaller, I want you to be faster, I want you to be quicker.’ There’s things that’ve been put on their shoulders too that have maybe been different from what they’ve done in the past."

All in all, the entire offense is getting revamped, not just the receivers. And that's cause for excitement up and down the roster.

"You can sense and see and feel the energy from everybody," Fickell affirmed.

For the most part, Fickell was coy about divulging specific names regarding injuries. He did, however, discuss his philosophy when it comes to spring ball and conditioning. He also provided an update on safety Travian Blaylock, who missed the entire 2022 season with a torn ACL.

“Some people like to do (spring practice) earlier, I like to do it later. I want to build up guys’ bodies, get them healthy from the season and give them an opportunity to get back on the field. There’ll be guys that will probably be out for the entire spring. Some of the ACL guys, we won’t push, some of the hip guys, we won’t push. I’m not gonna give names and stuff right now…what you might see a little more of is guys in red jerseys. Blaylock, for one, he’ll be a guy that’ll be out there in a red jersey, which means non-contact…You can’t do that up front, in case you’re wondering. You’ll never see any o-linemen, d-linemen in a non-contact jersey. That’s a different world.”

Wisconsin's defense, dominant for so long under Jim Leonhard, will now be headed by Mike Tressel, who was Fickell's right-hand man at Cincinnati. Tressel deploys a 3-3-5 base defense, but Fickell stressed that he won't sacrifice talent for scheme.

“It still comes down to getting your best 11 players on the football field. If there’s anything I learned at a very young age in coaching: don’t over complicate it, and on defense, get your best 11 tacklers on your football field," Fickell said.

"So I’m not gonna let scheme override it. ‘Okay, we wanna be a 3-3-5,’ no, if our best 11 players are with two outside linebackers and they’re on the line of scrimmage, we’d be crazy not to play the two outside linebackers on the line of scrimmage…It’s the coaches’ ability to understand, ‘okay what do we have, and what do we need to do to be successful.’...The reality is, it’s about players."

Despite a few key pieces departing, Wisconsin's defense returns much of its production from a season ago and will be tasked with learning a new system while maintaining the standard of excellence set for defenses in Madison.

When Wisconsin football was in the midst of its overhaul, and the futures of many coaches were unknown, it was a tender time for players on the roster. Many players were adamant about Leonhard getting the head coaching job he had just auditioned for. With an entirely new coaching staff, relationships must be cultivated and bonds must be formed. Fickell understands that these bonds haven't been tested yet, but he likes how his staff is connecting with the roster.

“You read body language, you read demeanors, you read attitudes, they’ve been very open minded. I think they’ve given us every opportunity to earn their trust, buy into the things we’ve asked them to do. So I would say without any true pressure situations, it’s been a really good mesh so far. You don’t find out what you’ve got and what kind of relationship you have until you have some of those real adverse situations, so it’s always a process," Fickell said.

His point that while the initial relationships between players and coaches appear strong, but they haven't been tested with any true adversity, is a fair assessment for this time of year.

A little later, he put it even more aptly: "Everything’s a honeymoon right now."

A recurring theme in Fickell's presser was an adherence to toughness. To Fickell, that means toughness on every level.

"I think the No. 1 most important thing for us is toughness. That’s mental, physical, emotional toughness to be able to handle those things, to be able to push ourselves. These 34 days (of spring ball), it’s a mental toughness that we’ve gotta figure out if we’ve got. Everybody wants to play when the ball goes down, but how you do things on days where you don’t have practice (is critical)."

Clearly, Fickell isn't just talking about physical toughness on the gridiron, and he backed that up later in the presser when asked how one goes about improving said toughness.

“People would think, ‘oh, you put them in the goal line,’ no, that’s not what we’re talking about. They’re tough in those ways. The toughness things are coming in every single day, the toughness things are when you go Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, you’re gonna grind," Fickell stated.

"To me grind is when the fun and work come together," he continued. "So we’re gonna challenge them to see if they have a passion for this game. Are you tough enough mentally to come in every day with the right attitude? Everyone wants to play; when the ball goes down, it’s not difficult. Your juices, your energy starts to go, and guys play. That’s the nature of the guys that we’ve got here. The challenge is on those other days. Can you come in, can you actually have the mindset, can you work at it, can you do the walkthroughs, that’s where I think the toughness comes in."

Wisconsin's new strength coach Brady Collins has been garnering plenty of attention for the spirited workouts he orchestrates, the highlights of which make their way onto Twitter. For Fickell, Collins embodies the levels of energy and intensity he wants to achieve every single day.

“I would say we are a high energy team in everything we do. That whole mantra of the way you do anything is the way you do everything is the way we live. If you don’t have energy, if you don’t have passion for what you’re doing, then it’s not worth doing. There’s no such thing as laid back. I told some of the guys when I first met them, I tell some of the recruits, ‘look, if you’re wanting a laid-back coach, and (you) wanna chill at times, that’s not me.

"This is probably not gonna be the best place for you, because there’s no chill in me…So I think if you ask us who we are, we’re a high-energy, passionate group no matter what we’re doing. It’s evident when you walk in that weight room. It’s not all about how you train…It’s about the energy that you train with, and that’s all contagious. Coach Brady and all those guys in there, that’s who they are…I think more than anything…it’s so critical to the development of who we want to be and how we want to play.”

The hype around Wisconsin football is perhaps at an all-time high. The Badgers' social media team has also done a fantastic job promoting the program, and that's created even more buzz. It's clearly part of the new coaching staff's strategy.

“I love it. I mean, anything that’s good for our players and creates energy, I love. Sometimes there’s things out there that’ll be negative, and we’ll use them in a very positive way. There are doubters, there are this, there are that. All those things, as long as it’s excitement, as long as it draws attention to (the players)," Fickell said.

Nonetheless, with great attention comes great expectations. Fickell relishes that, too.

"If there’s not energy out there, if there’s not excitement, then you gotta worry. People ask, ‘well how do you handle expectations?’ There’s nothing greater than having expectations. The internal pressure, the things that are put upon yourself, you get to find out who you are," he said.

"I think about what’s good for our program, what’s good for our guys, what keeps them motivated. When they see those things, they love it. I’m not the social media guy, but all those videos and things that they put out, it’s important for us to do, for many different reasons. Recruiting, former players, but also just to keep the energy of the program going.”

Fickell certainly seems to know how to fire up his team. For proof, watch the video from Longo below:

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