Wisconsin Football: Depth at LB will ease pain of losing Jack Cichy
The Wisconsin football team announced star senior linebacker Jack Cichy will miss the 2017 season with a knee injury.
In a devastating turn of events, it has been announced that Wisconsin Badgers senior linebacker, Jack Cichy, will miss the 2017 season with a torn ACL. He suffered the injury during Tuesday’s practice and will undergo surgery on Friday.
My goodness. Wisconsin announces LB Jack Cichy will miss the season after tearing an ACL. Terrible news. #Badgers
— Jesse Temple (@jessetemple) August 10, 2017
Cichy missed seven games a year ago and was still able to snag All-Big Ten honorable mention last year. The former walk-on, who chose Wisconsin over Holy Cross, was named a captain for the upcoming Badgers season and will likely try and obtain a medical redshirt for this season.
Related Story: Cichy to miss 2017 with knee injury
While losing a player that was on many preseason watch lists and the centerpiece of your defense can be hard, the Badgers will still be able to catch a silver lining from this ordeal. Yes, no more Cichy is a devastating loss- but the depth at the linebacker position is by far the deepest position on the team, and probably even the Big Ten.
Wisconsin LB Jack Cichy will miss 2017 with a torn ACL. Tough break for a great player. Badgers luckily have a lot of depth at linebacker.
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) August 10, 2017
Because of the Badgers’ 3-4 defensive scheme, Cichy and T.J. Edwards were the safe picks at inside linebacker entering the 2017 season. Backing up those two were going to be Chris Orr and Ryan Connelly. Orr missed the entire season last year after injuring himself on the first play of the year versus LSU. He could have very well been in the picture to compete with Edwards for that starting role, but the rustiness of playing just one snap of college ball ever could make for a little bit of a question mark.
And then there’s Ryan Connelly.
No returning inside linebacker was better at stopping the run than Wisconsin's Ryan Connelly was in 2016. pic.twitter.com/XJiYXcdDJp
— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 30, 2017
Not bad to have Connelly, the No. 1 inside linebacker at stopping the run, as a backup. No matter who gains the extra starting spot between Orr and Connelly, it does not mean the other will not see action. Due to the different looks and schemes the Badgers like to run, chances are Orr and Connelly will get nearly equal split playing time and could even see action at outside linebacker or together inside while Edwards takes a breather.
Do not forget about the likes of Leon Jacobs who could move from outside to inside linebacker, as well as the versatile Arrington Farrar, who can be placed pretty much anywhere you need him.
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The news of Cichy is devastating, but Wisconsin has all the right tools to succeed the expectations set by man prior to the Cichy injury.