Wisconsin Badgers Turning to Freshman ILB in Wake of Brutal 1st-Half Suspension

The Wisconsin Badgers team has lost one of their top defensive starters for the first-half of the Alabama Crimson Tide game.

Linebacker Jake Chaney was hit with a targeting penalty after hitting an opposing receiver in the chest with the crown of his helmet. Chaney received the penalty and subsequent ejection in the second-half of the game, meaning the linebacker will have to miss the first half of their next game. With the Alabama Crimson Tide next on their schedule, the Wisconsin football staff is turning to freshman linebacker Tyler Jansey to step up.

Wisconsin Badgers Linebacker Out For Half of Alabama Crimson Tide Clash

The Wisconsin football team will unfortunately be without star inside linebacker Jake Chaney for the first-half of their upcoming game against Alabama. The Crimson Tide will visit Madison this weekend in a game that could either become a huge win for Wisconsin, or an ugly affair for the team. Chaney will be available for the Badgers after halftime and should add a big defensive boost.

Chaney was suspended for the remainder of the South Dakota game as well as the first-half of the Alabama game for targeting. The linebacker flew to his right to make a tackle on a slant route, and hit the receiver in his lower chest with the crown of his helmet. While the hit look legal at first, upon review it was in fact targeting due to Chaney leading with the top of his helmet instead of his shoulder.

In place of Chaney, the Wisconsin football staff will rotate in redshirt freshman linebacker Tyler Jansey. Jansey did not record any playing time during the first two games this season, but recorded two tackles last season for the Badgers. The reserve linebacker is the next man up in the eyes of the Badgers staff, and could become a pivotal rotational piece moving forward with a good performance.

Can Jansey Find Consistent Playing Time With the Wisconsin Football Defense?

With Chaney out for the first-half of the Crimson Tide game, many fans believed Christian Alliegro and Tackett Curtis would pick up the majority of the missing snaps. However, coach Luke Fickell instead confirmed that freshman Tyler Jansey would see his first real action of the season in place of Chaney. Jansey, a former three-star recruit in the 2023 class, signed on with the Wisconsin football team over New Mexico State, Eastern Michigan, and Miami (OH).

Jansey is a dynamic linebacker standing in at 6-feet-1-inches and packing quite the punch in the hits he delivers. The linebacker was buried on the depth chart early in camp after an abundance of linebackers were added to the roster. However, Jansey has been quietly surprising the staff and floating under the radar of the Badgers media thus far.

The linebacker is going to be a pivotal part of the defense early on against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama is a team that has had trouble truly igniting their offense early in the season the past few years now. The Crimson Tide just survived a close game with Southern Florida that was 14-13 heading into the fourth quarter in favor of Alabama.

The Wisconsin football team needs to stop Alabama early and force their offense to punt, otherwise it will be very difficult to stop the Crimson Tide. Alabama is a momentum team and once they start to move downhill, there is no real way to stop them. If Wisconsin can get a few stops early in the game and capitalize on offense, they could walk away with a win over Alabama.

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