As usual, not a lot of questions but the few questions are big ones:

1) Who is going to step up at QB? We can't expect O'Brien to be Wilson. But everyone else (Budmayr, Phillips, Houston) is hurt.

2) WR has a lot of young guys, but will any of them step up opposite of Abbrederis? Is Garner healthy? Not one senior in the group, and Abbrederis, Garner, and Duckworth are the only juniors.

3) Once again, interior DL is dangerously thin. Kohout (the only D-1 scholarship player to come from my hometown in a long, long time) had to quit because of two strokes caused by migranes. Costigan and McNamara were moved to OL (sounds like they are high on Costigan at OG). But that only leaves three interior DL - Allen, Hemer, and Bryce Gilbert - who have seen the field, and only two more (true freshman Arthur Goldberg, and walk-on Jacob Ninneman) on the entire roster. Herring, at 6'3" 275, isn't big enough to play interior. Any injuries there would be devastating.

4) With the lack of experience at QB and WR, will teams stack the box against Ball?

Discuss...

It wasn't big enough in 2008 when a similar sized Mike Newkirk was asked to play interior DL because of lack of depth at the position. That resulted in 3-5 in the Big 10, beating Cal Poly by one and Minnesota by 3 at home (giving up 35 and 32 points respectively), and 7-6 overall. Michigan racked up 172 net rushing yards, Ohio State 183 (excluding 42 sack yards - actual 225), Iowa 254, and Cal Poly 276.

Everyone has 300lb interior OL now, especially in the Big Ten. That, and Herring has been playing DE.

Initial depth chart released:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wis/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/depth_chart_event/depth_chart_20120807aaa.pdf

Herring has apparently bulked up and now is 2nd string DT... but he is temporarily out with a concussion. They are still so thin at the position that they moved 6'3" 250 Jake Keefer temporarily to DT to cover while Herring is out. Fortunately they have verbals from two DTs next year, one of them a four star recruit.

The next big OL stars for UW apparently are Tyler Marz - redshirt FR listed as backup LT, and also was Offensive Scout Team POY last year - and true freshman Dan Voltz as both are listed as 2nd string. They are really high on Kyle Costigan at G for him to be listed as first string his first year on offense.

Two years ago Manasseh Garner seemed too good of a player to be a 5th/6th WR as a junior. I think he should have stayed on defense as a strong safety.