Wisconsin assistant Matt Mitchell discusses pass rush and evaluating specialists, plus more from inside linebackers

MADISON – Reporters spoke to Matt Mitchell, Wisconsin’s outside linebackers/special teams coach, and outside linebackers C.J. Goetz, Darryl Peterson, T.J. Bollers and Jeff Pietrowski on Friday.

Goetz, Peterson and Bollers all originally signed with UW.

Pietrowski transferred to UW from Michigan State. Pietrowski played high school ball in Ohio and was recruited by then-Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell. He built a relationship during his redshirt year at Michigan State (2020) with Mike Tressel, who was the Spartans’ safeties coach that season and is in his first season at UW.

Here are a few comments from the session, with UW set to return to practice on Saturday.

Q: Matt, you’ve had six practices with your guys now. With Nick Herbig gone, do you have an idea yet who might be able to come off the edge next season and make quarterbacks uncomfortable?

Mitchell: You could definitely tell watching the tape that Nick was very disruptive. We’re going to miss that.

I think Darryl Peterson has done a good job of affecting quarterbacks, some with speed rushes, some with power rushes. I’ve seen flashes of him being able to do that. C.J. was really good for Wisconsin setting edges and (teams) really had a hard time running the ball because of C.J.’s presence on the boundary. I think the next piece of it is trying to get him to be a better pass rusher. … Jeff Pietrowski had some success at Michigan State.

Q: C.J., you’ve been in the program for five years and have a bachelor’s degree. Why did you choose to return to UW for a sixth season?

Goetz: Throughout (last) year, just how the year went, I felt there was a lot more left on the table. I saw it as an opportunity to come back and finish it out the right way.

Q: Matt, all six practices so far have been held indoors. Have you been able to get a feel for your specialists, the kickers and punters, yet?

Mitchell: That’s been the biggest challenge. We just haven’t been able to get outside. It has been difficult.

Obviously, punter is the one at the forefront … just trying to see who potentially who could be our punter. We try to match the hangtime and the distance. If we can get a 4.5 (seconds) and 45 (yards), that is kind of the standard we’re looking for. We just haven’t been able to evaluate that.

Peter Snowden has done a great job as a long-snapper. There is been a lot of consistency with the time and the location.

There’s going to be competition at kicker, but (Nathanial) Vakos, the transfer from Ohio, was an All-American. We’ve done some extra-point, field goal work. Pretty easy. Nice, controlled environment. No wind. Not a lot of variables. The plan is to get out to Camp Randall on Saturday.

Q: Jeff, when Michigan State’s 2022 season concluded last November, did you have any idea that after three years with the Spartans you would be transferring and landing at another Big Ten school?

Pietrowski: No. It was a wild couple of weeks. We had a lot of good times there and there’s a lot of relationships there – those are some of my best friends. And there are some (coaches) in that building where I look at them like family.

But we had a couple coaching changes and with Coach Fickell and Coach Tressel coming here, it just felt right. It was something I wanted to be a part of. But I was a late transfer. It was like a week-and-a-half before school started. It was crazy.

Q: T.J., you weighed about 250 pounds at the start of last season but checked in at 265 pounds during bowl prep and are up to 268 pounds now. Many players drop a few pounds during the season. How were you able to gain so much weight during the season?

Bollers: That has been a thing that happens to me for a few years. Even during high school season, I always gained weight during the season. It never really made sense to me. It was always confusing to me. It never really made sense to me.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin football assistant Matt Mitchell, outslde linebackers Q&A