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Last week we covered the six old B1G East teams and their ongoing offseasons, what they gained and lost in the portal and how NFL Draft declarations are shaping their spring rosters. Now we turn to the rest of the conference, the seven old B1G West teams and the four new west coast teams. Eleven is a lot of teams to cover in one piece, so I've broken this up into two pieces. Today we'll handle five of the old B1G West squads, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Iowa, while later this week we'll feature Nebraska/Minnesota + the four new teams. 

Wisconsin 

EXITS

The Badgers' biggest exits come on the offensive side of the ball, as they see one-year stop-gap starting QB Tanner Mordecai graduate. Moredcai wasn't an incredible B1G player, but it does create a void that Wisconsin had to dip back into the portal to plug (more on that in a moment). The most impactful loss was likely RB Braelon Allen, who is testing out his pro pursuits after multiple years of being the beating heart of the Wisconsin offense. Following these two out the door are OL starters Tanor Bortolini and MIchael Furtney, as well as starting TE Hayden Rucci, who are all onto pro pursuits, be it football or office jobs. Wisconsin didn't lose much to the portal on offense, WRs Chimere Dike (transferred to Florida) and Skyler Bell (UConn) being the biggest names, while some of their depth OL moved on in G Trey Wedig (Indiana) and OT Nolan Rucci (PSU). 

Defensively the Badgers fell victim to poachers, losing their young starting LB Jordan Turner, who is relocating to MSU and new head coach Jonathan Smith. They also lost starting DL Rodas Johnson to Texas A&M, which, when combined with the eligibility/NFL related losses of LB Maema Njongmeta, EDGE/OLB CJ Geotz, and CB Jason Maitre, leaves the Badgers in a bit of a mini-reshuffle on defense. DT Gio Paez is also graduating and moving on, while some background characters like DE Darian Varner hit the portal. I wouldn't say that the Badgers got devastated but there is some real turnover on both sides of the ball, as Luke Fickell's second team will certainly look different than his first. 

[Getty Images]

ACQUISITIONS 

Wisconsin hit the portal to replace the departed Mordecai at QB, snapping up Miami's old QB Tyler Van Dyke. Van Dyke was once seen as a rising star with NFL aspirations after his 2021 season, but did not perform well in 2022 under Josh Gattis. That said, he rebounded some in 2023 before hitting the portal. It will be an interesting test of Fickell's offensive staff to see what they can get out of Van Dyke this fall. To fill the Braelon Allen hole, Wisconsin is leaning on the returning Chez Mellusi as well as new RB Tawee Walker from Oklahoma, who rushed 102 times for 513 yards and seven TDs last season. Walker was second in carries at Oklahoma and should make an instant impact at Wisconsin. 

Elsewhere on the offense Wisconsin added LSU TE Jackson McGohan, a 3* in the 2023 class. At that position and at that age, we should expect McGohan to be a reserve piece this season and maybe factor in down the line. WR Tyrell Henry joins the Wisconsin receiver depth chart from MSU, having caught 24 balls for the Spartans last season. He could be in line for a starting job but if nothing else, Henry helps bolster the WR depth chart after losing a couple players at that position. 

The higher volume of adds came on the defensive side, where Fickell worked to completely build a new LB depth chart. He brought in three new ILB types, plus a couple EDGE/OLB pieces. The ILBs start with Jaheim Thomas, a player Fickell coached at Cincy who then did a year at Arkansas, posting solid grades as an SEC starter. You'd figure he'd be in line for starting snaps, while the other two are more developmental pieces. Tackett Curtis was a high 4* Michigan recruited in the 2023 class but chose USC, where he started as a true freshman and was predictably terrible because he was a Tr Fr coached by Alex freakin' Grinch. Curtis may need a year to sit and learn football but the talent is high. Seabstian Cheeks sat a couple years at UNC and is a local guy coming back to his home state. 

Those ILBs have transformed the depth chart at that position and Fickell also worked hard to reshape the EDGE/OLB room. John Pius arrives from William & Mary having been an elite, All-American caliber FCS player. I'm not sure he'll start, but you'd expect him to play a role. Leon Lowery transfers in from Syracuse after starting for the Orange last season to underwhelming PFF grades. To help the DT position, Elijah Hills comes in from Albany after being a multi-year starter for the Great Danes, and Fickell also added rotational corner RJ Delaney from Toledo. It's not clear how many of these transfers beyond Thomas will be defensive starters, but after seeing some talent drained from the roster via the portal/NFL, Fickell used the portal well to pick up intriguing names who can bolster the depth. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: the other four teams]

Yesterday we concluded our The Enemy, Ranked series, covering the nine B1G teams who find themselves on Michigan's schedule this 2023 season. But how about the four teams not on the schedule, all out of the B1G West? As I mentioned throughout the series, some of these teams are among the stronger B1G foes and feature talent in the trenches and in the secondary/at QB missing from The Enemy series. Today we will break down each of those four teams, their strengths, weaknesses, and project out their season. 

Wisconsin

No team in the B1G underwent a larger change this offseason than Wisconsin, and I'm including Northwestern in that. The Badgers opted to abandon the DNA of what made Wisconsin Football successful for nearly three decades, not just moving away from the Barry Alvarez coaching tree by hiring Luke Fickell, but letting Fickell scrap the bully ball offense in favor of an Air Raid attack(!) led by former North Carolina OC Phil Longo. On defense, Jim Leonhard's 3-4 system that churned out star OLBs is out in favor of Mike Tressel's 3-3-5, a seismic shock to the program on par with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Everything about Badger football is about to change and it makes Wisconsin one of America's most fascinating teams in 2023. 

Offense

It's not just that the scheme has changed... the roster looks significantly different as well. Yes, Braelon Allen is still around, a star RB who is probably the second best back in the conference behind Blake Corum. The run game he engineers in tandem with Chez Mellusi is a great balancing weapon to have next to the completely re-made passing attack headed up by transfer QB Tanner Mordecai from SMU. Over two seasons with the Mustangs after transferring from Oklahoma, where he was coached by Lincoln Riley as a backup behind Jalen Hurts, Mordecai completed 66.4% of his passes for 8.0 Y/A, 72 TD to 22 INT. The upgrade Mordecai represents over Graham Mertz is astronomical and gives Wisconsin the best QB in the B1G West. 

Rebooting the receiving corps was an area of emphasis for Luke Fickell, even though the top three pass-catchers off last season's ho-hum Wisconsin WR room return, with Chimere Dike being the top target. Fickell added four transfer WRs(!) in addition to those three established returners, two transfers from Cincy, a promising RS Fr 4* from USC, and Bryson Green, who racked up 723 receiving yards over two seasons with OKST. I'm not sure if there will be a Dude in this receiving corps, but between seven lottery tickets, at least three should be solid targets for Mordecai to throw to. 

The biggest question with the offense is the offensive line. OL Coach Bob Bostad is out (hired by Indiana), with Longo bringing Jack Bicknell Jr. with him from UNC. Bicknell's first order of business will be finding a line of five starters and then teaching them a brand new blocking system that is diametrically different from what Wisconsin has run forever. The Badger OL also declined considerably in the last years of the Chryst era, finishing only 70th in average line yards last year. The good news is 3.5 starters return and Fickell brings two former All-AAC OL with him from Cincy (Joe Huber and Jake Renfro), so experience is here, but getting five guys to gel as a unit and get a hang of a new scheme is the big question. If they can get even a decent OL, between Mordecai leading the passing game and the prowess of Allen on the ground, the Wisconsin offense could be terrific. But there are also a lot of moving parts, possible transition costs and it's not a sure thing that it all works in year 1. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Wisconsin defense and the rest of the teams]

Last week I looked at changes in the rosters in the B1G East so far in the offseason. Today we will do the same for the B1G West. The NFL Draft declaration date has come and gone, so we have some more clarity, though transfers are still in the process of deciding. As I said with the East piece, my plan is to come back through in a couple months and take a look at how the dust settled on these respective rosters. 

Purdue

EXITS

The Boilermakers have had a busy offseason, with their most notable exit being coach Jeff Brohm. With a new regime in, you'd expect quite a bit of turnover and there's plenty of it. Graduation/the NFL has taken all three of their stars in the passing game, QB Aidan O'Connell, WR Charlie Jones, and TE Payne Durham, as well as a huge chunk of their pass defense, starting corners Cory Trice and Reese Taylor, as well as HSP Jalen Graham and LB Kieren Douglas. They will be returning most of the OL and lead back Devin Mockobee, but that's a lot of experience and production to make up, before we even get into the portal subtractions.

To the portal the Boilermakers lost Spencer Holstege, a starting G for this year's team, as well as three useful pieces on the defensive line, Lawrence Johnson and Branson Deen, who were starter-ish rotation pieces at defensive tackle, and starting DE Jack Sullivan. All four of those players opted to pack their bags for warmer weather, with Deen opting to head to Miami, Johnson to Auburn, Holstege to UCLA, and Sullivan to rival USC. Reserve RB Kobe Lewis bailed for FAU as well, and then an assortment of bench names I am not familiar with are in the portal as well. It's going to be a pretty different Purdue team that shows up in Ann Arbor to play the Wolverines in the fall than the one we saw in Indianapolis a month ago. 

ACQUISITIONS

Well we can start with the new HC Ryan Walters, who is replacing Brohm. Walters, who turns 37 tomorrow, is considered a top young mind in coaching circles after presiding over elite defenses back-to-back seasons at Illinois, where he had minimal talent to work with. Seemed like a smart hire to me and he's reshuffled the coaching staff, bringing new DC Kevin Kane with him from Illinois (he was the associate head coach and OLB coach) and hiring new OC Graham Harrell, of Texas Tech QB fame from the late 2000s, away from West Virginia. Kane will help him rebuild the Purdue defense, while Harrell will ensure continuity with Brohm's Air Raid scheme. All three of these coaches are under the age of 40, so this is an exceptionally youthful staff. 

The biggest question for the Boilermakers with Aidan O'Connell leaving is what will happen at QB. Their big add out of the portal was QB Hudson Card from Texas, a high 4* prospect in the 2020 class who got passed over for Quinn Ewers in Austin, but played some when Ewers was injured this past season and did fine. Card seems to be the favorite to start, though Purdue managed to keep Brady Allen, their Class of 2022 QB who was a solid 4* himself, in the fold. Allen originally had his name in the portal, but pulled it out to return to Purdue, suggesting there will be a legitimate QB competition here. 

Elsewhere Purdue has added a few supplemental pieces, Isaiah Nichols (DT) and Anthony Brown (S) from Arkansas, the former being a middling rotational piece on the DL, while the latter got a redshirt as a true freshman this past season. They also got interior OL Jalen Grant, a two year starter at Bowling Green, to jump on board. None of these strike as particularly high impact additions, and I would expect them to add some more as the next few months roll along and the new staff gets their feet under them properly. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more or less chaos]