BadgerBlitz.com's Wisconsin player draft: Round 17

This summer, the Badgers will be divided.

That is, they'll be separated into three imaginary teams, set against each other by a BadgerBlitz.com.com Wisconsin player draft, a daily selection in which separate groups of 23 are assembled.

Over the next four weeks, BadgerBlitz.com reporters Jon McNamara, John Veldhuis and Jessi Schoville will draft Badgers, picking players one-by-one and placing them on their respective teams, trying to assemble the best 11 on offense and defense, plus one reserve.

Then, in late July, we'll decide — based on BadgerBlitz.com.com staff and member feedback — which team would win.

Who will be selected when? How will the teams develop? What reasoning will be used?

And most importantly, do you agree with the picks? Be sure to discuss in the Badgers' Den.

Ready for Round 17?

My defense is now complete and I can turn my focus to offense. And with tailbacks already on John (Corey Clement) and Jessi's (Dare Ogunbowale) roster, I don't need to rush in drafting Taiwan Deal or Chris James. Jessi needs offensive linemen and I want to beat him to the punch. Looking at what's left, I decided that redshirt freshman David Moorman was the best available.

Moorman, 6-foot-5, 288 pounds, has worked at tackle but is going to have to play guard for me. The former three-star prospect was injured for much of his freshman season but saw time in the two-deep this spring at left tackle. Moorman, though, is probably still a year or two away from serious playing time. Should something happen to Ryan Ramczyk this year, position coach Joe Rudolph would likely move either Beau Benzschawel or Jacob Maxwell over and plug in one of the Badgers' capable guards to the starting lineup, either Jon Dietzen and Micah Kapoi.

I was extremely pleased with my defense so far and was particularly excited about the caliber of linebackers I was able to put together. To round out and complete that group I selected Dallas Jeanty out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Jeanty, who enrolled early at Wisconsin, is a young but intelligent football player with solid performance both on and off the field.

One thing that really stuck out to be about Jeanty is something that is perhaps silly to some, but I saw as a sign of maturity and potential. Upon his commitment to UW he stated via Twitter, “Blessed to announce that I have committed to University of Wisconsin to excel as a Student-Athlete!!” While that may seem insignificant I like that he sees this as an opportunity to better himself in a multitude of ways. It shows his perspicacity of the situation he is in and indicates to me that he has set a good early trajectory for his college career.

An athletic linebacker who can score a 29 on the ACT and 1920 on the SAT isn’t something I see very often. If you read up on his difficult upbringing and situational circumstances these feats seem all the more impressive. Jeanty may not be the best backer in my star-studded corps, but I like the guy and think he has some potential to do big things.

At this point I couldn't wait any longer. Both Jon, Jessi and I waited longer than I anticipated to take a quarterback, but I was first off the board and took Alex Hornibrook to be my signal caller. I think we all sat on quarterbacks because there didn't seem to be much of a gap between Bart Houston and Hornibrook, and as long as you got one or the other you could feel pretty good about the pick. And while the thought did cross my mind that with the running game I'd built adding Kare' Lyles wouldn't be the worst thing, taking Hornibrook was my plan A if I had the chance.

In picking Hornibrook I am tipping my hand a bit - I was impressed with how he improved over the course of spring camp, and thought he made up enough ground on Bart Houston to where they'll start fall camp on about as even of a plane as possible. I'm not convinced he wins the job this year, but I think there's a definite possibility of it. Plus, Hornibrook is just a redshirt freshman, which means he has plenty of years of eligibility left for my roster. I would have been happy to get Houston too if Hornibrook had gone earlier, but I like what the lefty brings to the table. We'll see what happens when the two quarterbacks take the field this fall- all eyes will be on them from start to finish.

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