Wisconsin OC Reveals What Twists He'll Bring The Badgers Amid Air Raid Speculation

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo might ease his way into making changes to the Badgers.

The moment the Badgers hired Luke Fickell, the belief was the old style of running the ball the majority of the time was dead.

The ground and pound attack worked for decades for Wisconsin, but as fans saw in Paul Chryst's final couple seasons, a change was needed.

However, those thinking Phil Longo will completely ditch the run game to just throw the ball all over the field might be in for some disappointment.

"I think the words Air Raid create a misconception or a poor perception of what we want to do offensively. We’re going to be more diverse maybe than we’ve been here, and we want to throw the ball probably more effectively. Maybe even more rep wise than we’ve done. But you really want to be effective at both. And, I’d be an idiot not to run the football here with the backfield that we have and the offensive line that we have," Longo further explained to the media when breaking down what the offense will look like.

Longo compared tooling an offense to outfitting a Ferrari as times change.

What will the offense look like for Wisconsin in 2023?

It's interesting how fans have heard a lot of different things out of Fickell's staff. Some days, it's all about airing it out. Others, it's about how things might not change much or the pace might be very slow.

Part of the problem is Wisconsin doesn't really have the players right now to run a true air raid offense. With Tanner Mordecai and Nick Evers on the roster, the Badgers have the QB options to do it.

However, outside of Chimere Dike and maybe Skyler Bell, the receivers simply aren't there. That means Longo is going to have to tweak things to the guys he has.

What's worth noting is that when highly-rated 2024 QB prospect Mabrey Mettauer committed, he made it clear he was coming to play in the air raid.

It does make you wonder if recruits are being told something slightly different than the general public.

No matter what, Wisconsin will have some interesting changes in 2023, and fans have waited a long time for a fresh start. With Luke Fickell and Phil Longo, in Madison the Badgers finally have it.