Wisconsin football: redshirt watch part IV

The No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers (10-3 overall, 7-2 B1G) are busy on the recruiting trail and preparing for their Rose Bowl matchup with the No. 5 Oregon Ducks (11-2 overall, 8-1 Pac-12).

We here at Bucky’s 5th Quarter are busy churning out content for you, our dedicated readers, and we have a final redshirt watch of the season for you! There is only one major difference since the last one, and that is the status of CB Semar Melvin.

Melvin was pressed into duty due to injuries over the past couple of weeks and he has now played in four games this season. You may remember that four is the magic number when it comes to remaining eligible to use your redshirt, so it is unknown if Paul Chryst is going to burn Melvin’s redshirt for the Rose Bowl or not.

DT Keeanu Benton and ILB Leo Chenal have both had excellent freshman years and will be looked at as building blocks for future iterations of the Wisconsin defense. There were far fewer contributions on the offensive side of the ball, but QB Graham Mertz looked promising in limited action and FB Quan Easterling looks like he’ll be well equipped to carry on Wisconsin’s proud fullback tradition.

Scholarship players, ordered by 247Sports ranking

• Logan Brown, OT: zero games played
• Graham Mertz, QB: two games played, 9-for-10, 73 yards, two rushes, six yards
• Joe Tippmann, OT: one game played, no stats
• Spencer Lytle, OLB: zero games played
• Rodas Johnson, DT: zero games played
• Hayden Rucci, TE: zero games played
• Titus Toler, S: zero games played
• Maema Njongmeta, OLB: zero games played
• Julius Davis, RB: zero games played
• Leo Chenal, ILB: 10 games played, will not redshirt, 20 total tackles, two TFL, one sack, one fumble recovery, one QB hurry
• Semar Melvin, CB: four games played, four total tackles, one pass broken up
• Gio Paez, DT: zero games played
• Dean Engram, CB: zero games played
• Clay Cundiff, TE: one game played, no stats
• Stephan Bracey, WR: zero games played
• James Williams, CB: zero games played
• Keeanu Benton, DT: 12 games played, will not redshirt, 12 total tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacka, two QB hurries
• Quan Easterling, FB: one game played, no stats

Walk-ons

• Jordan DiBenedetto, WR: zero games played
• Cooper Nelson, WR: zero games played
• Blake Wilcox, K: zero games played
• Jackson Kollath, ILB: zero games played
• Tatum Grass, ILB: zero games played
• Logan O’Brien, OL: zero games played
• Peter Bowden, LS: zero games played