A.J. Blazek heads back to Kinnick as Wisconsin offensive line coach

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa is ‘Tight End U,’ Wisconsin has been known as ‘Offensive Line U.’

But ‘Offensive Line U’ has been ‘Rotating Offensive Line Coach U’ in recent seasons.

A.J. Blazek was named offensive line coach this past winter. He’s a former Hawkeyes center and student assistant and graduate assistant coach.

And the fourth offensive line coach at Wisconsin in four years.

“You look at it, and I think it’s like 20 guys in 20 years drafted out of (our) room and 15 in the last 11,” Blazek told local media in the spring. “And 75 percent of those guys are out of the state of Wisconsin. I’ve had mentors over my career, if you want to coach a position, go where they grow. If you want to be a quarterback coach, go start in California. But if you want to coach offensive line, go to Wisconsin.”

Blazek was hired by head coach Luke Fickell after a three-year stint at Vanderbilt. Prior to that, he was at North Dakota State, where he won an FCS national title in 2019.

He also has coached in the Big Ten at Rutgers. Wisconsin also hired former Badgers lineman Casey Rabach as assistant offensive line coach.

“As the fourth O-line coach in four years, you are taking over kids who have heard different coaching points and one offensive change from a coordinator’s standpoint, I think. So they’ve been asked to do different things,” Blazek said. “The biggest thing is those guys have built a skill set. A lot of times if you learn one thing the whole time, you get really good at it. We’re probably decent at a number of things. Now what can we get really good at?”

By most accounts, the offensive line is the most improved part of this Wisconsin team. The Badgers play Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium against the Iowa Hawkeyes (6:30 opening kickoff/NBC).

Wisconsin goes into the game fourth in the Big Ten Conference in rushing, on pace to surpass last season’s yardage total. That’s a credit to Joe Brunner, Jake Renfro, Joe Huber, Ben Barten and Riley Mahlmen, the guys upfront.

And certainly Blazek.

“He invites us up to his office,” Huber told local reporters. “Every week he has a meeting sign-up sheet, which I’ve never seen before from a coach. He just encourages us to come and talk with him as much as he can. You come up and just go up by yourself and watch film, ask questions.”

“I think it starts with he’s a relationship guy. Any time you are a new guy walking through the door, that bodes well for you,” Fickell said at his weekly press conference. “He’s smart enough to be able to protect them during the week based on what it is they need. If he didn’t have a relationship, if they weren’t honest with him, that’s where it becomes a little more difficult. Especially when you’re new. So I think he’s done a really good job in that sense.”

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