Hicks, Williams win starting roles at cornerback for Badgers

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It’s finally here — the start of the 2018 Wisconsin Badgers football season. For the Badgers defense, the biggest offseason question mark has some unexpected answers to it.

After playing some very consistent football over the past few weeks, sophomore Caesar Williams and redshirt freshman Faion Hicks saw their names listed as starters for Week 1’s matchup with Western Kentucky.

Williams came on strong over the final week of open practice. At the same time, expected starter Dontye Carriere-Williams saw himself losing reps with the No. 1 defense.

At the time, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard mentioned the consistency not being there for Carriere-Williams.

That sentiment was echoed by head coach Paul Chryst during Sunday’s press conference.

“We like a lot of that group and where they’re at,” Chryst said. “If you don’t have a huge natural separation, I think one thing that can separate is consistency, and I think that’s what you saw in (Williams) and Faion, is the consistent approach to it.”

While Hicks and Williams start Week 1 at the top of the depth chart, the competition for snaps and positions will only heat up as the games matter.

The good news is that the competition has just made everyone better and thus the Badgers better at the same time. It’s what happens when youth continues to grow together as well.

“They’re young, and they need to keep growing,” Chryst said of Williams and Hicks. “That whole group needs to continue to keep growing, but they want to, and they’re really coachable. I think what becomes kind of a separator, though, is the consistency of it.”

Western Kentucky will test not only Hicks and Williams, but the entire secondary with its spread aerial attack. The Hilltoppers are also likely to test the Badgers secondary with multiple player still competing at quarterback for second-year head coach Mike Sanford.

No matter which quarterback gets the majority of snaps, UW’s corners will have a good challenge on their hands in Lucky Jackson. The junior is the leading returning receiver from last season, where he ranked third on the team with 39 receptions. He also had 600 yards and three touchdown receptions.

It’ll be a good test for a Badgers defense that comes in with high levels of performance to live up to. UW ranks No. 2 nationally in pass efficiency defense over the past two seasons.

Just because there is youth at cornerback, doesn’t mean Leonhard and Co. are going to expect them to play at any lower of a level. We’ll see which players show that consistency Chryst and Leonhard are looking for when the games actually count.

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