Paul Chryst discusses big potential of defense

Wisconsin is a team that has a solid identity under head coach Paul Chryst. Part of that has been playing dominant defense. Even with that, Chryst spoke at Big Ten Media Days about how this year’s defense has a chance to be special.

“We’ve been fortunate,” Paul Chryst said. “We’ve played really good defense. I’m grateful. I think we’ve got a heck of a defensive staff. Certainly, a lot of people know about Jim Leonhard (defensive coordinator), but I think our coaches, we’ve got a really, really good staff. What makes them good is they know our players and they get to know our players.”

“We’re going to have some names this year like Keeanu (Benton) and Nick (Herbig) that have played, and we’ll have some new faces with some new names. But I think that it’s a great starting point when you’ve got — just today with Nu and Nick here, you’ve got some guys that didn’t come but you feel good about and did a lot. With the addition of some other players and with the staff, we’ve got work to do, but I feel confident in that group. I think we’re all excited. We’re all excited about it. We’ve got some younger guys that we feel like has good talent, and now this is their time.”

So, while Paul Chryst knows Wisconsin lost production, he’s confident that the Badgers have players who can step up and replace them. Those players, in turn, can make the defense special.

“So there’s no doubt we lost some really good production from last year, but we are excited about the group that we have. Like I said, we’re going to need training camp. We’ve got to have a good camp, but I like a lot of what we’ve got going on there.”