Hunter Wohler, who starred at Muskego High School, returns to action, makes immediate impact

MADISON – Jim Leonhard was happy to see Hunter Wohler back in the lineup. Why wouldn't he?

“He is physical. He plays fast. He is aggressive, and he tracks the ball well,” Wisconsin's interim football coach said. “It's such a huge skill set that's going to be a lot of fun the last couple of weeks to just find ways to make him more and more dynamic in this defense.”

Wohler, a sophomore safety who starred a Muskego High School, returned to the field Saturday. It was his first game since breaking his left fibula in the season opener. He helped the Badgers score a 23-10 win over Maryland in front of an announced crowd of 74,057 at Camp Randall Stadium.

Defense ruled the day in a game played on a cold, rainy and windy afternoon. UW held Maryland, which entered play ranked third in the Big Ten in scoring offense (34.1 ppg) and total offense (454.4 yards) to its season low for points and to total yards (189).

More:UW vs. Maryland: Nick Herbig's explosive play makes him our MVP plus other awards from the 23-10 win

The game marked the second straight contest Wisconsin's defense held a potent offense in check. A major factor in that success has been the team’s improving health on defense. In the past month games, cornerback Alex Smith has returned to the lineup after a long recovery from a hamstring injury while starters like junior outside linebacker Nick Herbig, sophomore linebacker Jordan Turner and senior nose tackle Keeanu Benton are back at full strength after missing a game or enduring nagging injuries.

The last time we saw Wohler in action was Sept 3 against Illinois State.

“There definitely are no words I have to describe the feeling," he said of his return. "The most exciting part is coming out with a win, just keeping the momentum going. We’ve got big plans for the rest of the season.”

There were a plenty of key figures for the defense Saturday. Turner, junior linebacker Maema Njongmeta and junior safety Kamo’i Latu tied for the team high with six tackles.

Led by Herbig’s two sacks and three tackles for a loss, the Badgers tied for their season high with five sacks and posted seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Wohler finished with three tackles and recorded his first career interception. He was part of a game plan in which the Badgers sometimes used safeties in the outside linebacker spot in an attempt to contain Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa.

That said Wohler played most of the game in the secondary, rotating series with Latu. Wohler admitted that he thought he would have been able to return before Saturday.

“You always hope it’s earlier, but I’m glad we played it safe and took this long because you don’t want to have it linger the rest of the year and potentially further,” he said. “I’m glad that we took the time that we did and now coming into today I felt really good. I felt solid.”

Wisconsin used all the safeties who played Saturday – Wohler, Latu and senior John Torchio – as an outside linebacker at some point in the game.

One of the results of the adjustment was Wohler’s interception. With Wisconsin leading, 20-3, early in the fourth quarter, he dropped back into coverage and snagged Tagovailoa’s throw.

It was the only turnover of the game.

“It was a blessing to be able to play that spot,” Wohler said. “It was fun. It’s something I’ve never done before, being up close, being right next to all the action. Thank you to Coach Leonhard for getting me ready, putting me in those positions. I’m just grateful.”

Wohler returns just in time for the stretch run of the Big Ten season. With three games left, the Badgers are one game behind Illinois in the Big Ten West with games at Iowa, at Nebraska and at home against Minnesota on tap.

“We have a really talented group, so I have really high expectations that we can do a lot of things that are special," he said. "We started the year not great, obviously, but this final run is what we hang our hat on.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Muskego native Hunter Wohler returns to action, makes immediate impact