Hunter Wohler a high “dollar” player for Wisconsin Badgers

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa has the cash position on defense. Wisconsin has the dollar position.

Hunter Wohler has been worth about a million of those so far this college football season for the Badgers.

The junior from Muskego, Wis., is listed as a safety but plays more of a hybrid position. And very well.

Wohler leads Wisconsin in tackles with 50 through five games. That’s double the total of inside linebacker Jake Chaney, who has the next-highest stops total on the team.

“I think that the uniqueness (with) him is just instinctually playing the game,” first-year Wisconsin Coach Luke Fickell said. “He’s as good as I’ve seen. Just natural instincts at playing the game, understanding where the ball is, angles and things like that, I think he brings a lot.

“The biggest thing for us to do with him is making sure we don’t give him too much. You know, we have this expectation at the things that he can handle. But we’ve got to put him in a position where he can be himself, he can do the things, as opposed to using him too much.”

Wohler is a 6-foot-2, 211-pounder who was a four-star recruit out of high school. He played in every game as a true freshman in 2021, but just six last season because of a broken leg.

In their first seasons in Madison joining Fickell from Cincinnati, defensive coordinator Mike Tressel and co-DC/safeties coach Colin Hitschler brought with them the dollar position, for which they felt Wohler was a natural. He can play deep in pass coverage or move toward the line of scrimmage in certain situations to act as a run stopper or rush the quarterback.

He also is responsible for knowing where the players in front of him, the line and linebackers, needs to be.

“I really enjoy doing both. I like being involved in both aspects,” he said. “It gives you a chance to make a lot of plays. Make big tackles, TFLs, get interceptions , whatever. So I really enjoy doing both. I think the opportunity to do both is a great opportunity. I can’t take that lightly.”

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“The whole defense is built around position versatility and the ability to do a lot of things, and he exemplifies that ability to maybe rush the passer one play, play the post the next and play man the next play,” Hitschler told local reporters preseason. “So that versatility allows him to be around the football.”

To illustrate what is being talked about here, Wohler has two interceptions to go with his team-leading tackle total. He also has a sack and two quarterback hurries.

“He's versatile as an athlete, and mentally he's really, really sharp and he plays with instincts,” Tressel said. “When a guy does multiple things on the football field, whether it's playing a couple of different positions or being asked to do a variety of different assignments, you can't cover every single situation that an offense might run against every one of those positions. So a guy that has natural football instincts, you can trust him to do more things.”

Certainly Wohler will be involved in his team’s attempt at trying to stop or slow down Erick All and his fellow tight ends in Saturday afternoon’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison (3 p.m. opening kickoff, Fox). He said he is looking forward to the challenge and to the rivalry game, one that could go a long way toward determining the Big Ten Conference West Division winner.

“What Iowa does well is they use their (tight ends) in so many different ways,” Wohler said. “Whether that’s screens or whether that’s throwing it deep. Little crunch blocks. They do a great job of utilizing them in as many ways as possible. They’re difficult to stop, and that’s obviously a big focus this week. How do we attack their tight ends?

“This game is and always will be a physical matchup. That’s what these two programs have been for the last 20, 30 years, and that’s what both programs pride themselves on. So when you get to this week, we know it’s going to be physical, we know it’s going to be hard nosed, we know that whoever dominates up front is ultimately going to win the game. That’s the focus. You have to respect the opponent and the rivalry, we have to prepare for it and know going in that it’s going to be a battle.”

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