Lucas at Large: Young talent hitting stride at right time for Leonhard
December 04, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas, Varsity Magazine
Rematch with Ohio State offers rare opportunity for Badgers
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Based on what Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard saw out of Semar Melvin at Ohio State in late October, he wanted to see more of the true freshman cornerback from St. Thomas Aquinas High School, a powerhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that produced James White, Dez Southward, et al.
"We left the game saying that he should play more reps," Leonhard said of the 5-foot-11, 166-pound Melvin, a four-star prospect. "I'm excited for him because it's an opportunity that he has earned. It's not given. It's not a situation where other guys have made mistakes. He has earned the role.
"It's awesome when you can reward a guy. It's why we've tried to be smart with the number of games that he played during the middle portion of the season because we felt like this growth was coming and we felt the opportunity could be there."
It materialized at Minnesota. In only his third collegiate appearance, Melvin made his first career start as part of the nickel package. And it didn't take him long to experience a "Welcome to the Big Ten moment" at the (soft) hands of wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who beat him on a long touchdown pass.
Leonhard really didn't have to say anything to Melvin when he came off the field.
"That's what I love about the kid — you look in his eyes and he's fine," Leonhard said. "He came over and asked, 'What can I do better?' We had a conversation and he went back out there and played extremely well the rest of the day."
From Melvin's first game exposure in the season opener at South Florida, Leonhard has been conscious of preserving Melvin's year of eligibility by not exceeding the NCAA's redshirt limit of four games. He's definitely planning on using Melvin in Saturday's Big Ten title game against Ohio State.
"He's got a great approach and we've seen his progression throughout the season," he observed. "It's probably not right to play him more than four games. But we said when he gets his next opportunity it's going to be a big one and he has been ready for it now for a while.
"It was awesome to see him be a big piece of why we won the game and won the West. He has tremendous trust in his speed. He can run, so he never panics. He always understands he's in a position to make a play because he trusts he can run with guys and get his eyes back on the football."
Melvin was not the only unsung contributor on Leonhard's defense.
After the Gophers took a quick 7-0 lead, they were driving for another score on their second possession. On second-and-2 from the UW 35, defensive end Isaiah Mullens and linebacker Chris Orr combined to stop tailback Mohamed Ibrahim for no gain. It was Mullens' first career tackle.
On third-and-2, freshman nose tackle Keeanu Benton and defensive end Garrett Rand held quarterback Seth Green, the short-yardage specialist, to no gain. Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck conceded afterward the result of those two plays factored into his thinking to punt the ball on fourth down.
"It was huge, especially knowing how successful that team has been in those short-yardage situations," Leonhard said. "When they have won first down, not many teams have had success against them. To get a win and get off the field, there was a lot of confidence for this defense that we needed.
"It's really early in the game but when you look back on it, and you see what happened on that series and how it settled us down and you see a guy like Isaiah (Mullens) make a play, it's big time. We had the game plan, we had what we needed to win the game and we just needed to get it done."
With the Badgers protecting a 17-7 lead in the third quarter, Ibrahim broke loose on a 36-yard run. After juking the safety, it looked like he had clear sailing to the end zone. But backup outside linebacker Christian Bell never stopped hustling and brought him down from behind on the UW 22.
The Wisconsin defense stiffened and the Gophers were forced to settle for a field goal.
"It was high-effort," Leonhard said of Bell. "He was the only guy who could stop him (from scoring). Christian has been great the last couple of weeks. You just see the energy. He gets a sack (against Purdue) and then makes that play. It's how you earn more reps.
"You build trust in your teammates and coaches."
Melvin. Mullens. Bell. Who would have guessed they would have factored into the win?
"At this point in the season," said Wisconsin's Paul Chryst, "any time you can get contributions from other guys, it's big. For some, it's one play. For some, it's 10 plays. For some, it's more than that. We'll be at our best when more guys contribute."
After grading the Minnesota film, Leonhard was pleased with the attention to detail on "what our plan was and what we needed to do it execute it" against the high-scoring Gophers.
He also drew a telling conclusion, "That was the best that we've tackled in a while, maybe the whole month of November; maybe in a month and a half that was the best we've tackled."
Tackling can be problematic from a repetition standpoint.
"It gets tougher as the season goes on because you're not hitting as much," Leonhard said. "So, you have to get creative, you have to find ways to emphasize it. We still do as much as we can within a practice. If you put yourself in a position to execute a tackle the right way, it gives you a chance."
Coaches can't afford to let anything slide, he stressed, fearing bad habits will develop.
"That's what shows up throughout the course of a year," Leonhard said. "The teams that continue to tackle the best generally have the most success … you've got to make plays in other areas, but if you tackle well, you're going to have an opportunity to win the game."
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The Ohio State rematch has piqued Leonhard's curiosity. He's excited. So are his players.
"It's rare in college football to play a team twice," said Leonhard, who played 10 years in the National Football League. "Having experience in the NFL, you see how much of a difference that makes in understanding who's lining up across from you and how they attack and how you attacked them.
"What hurt you? What did you do well? It's truly a chess match. You know more information about them. They know more information about you. You understand the issues that they create and maybe something you thought was a big issue going into the game ended up not being one.
"There's a lot of learning that can happen when you play a team a second time … We know that we've got nothing to lose. I'm not saying they have less to lose or more to lose than we do.
"But we see this as an opportunity to go in there (Indianapolis) and really represent what growth we've had since we stepped off that field the last time."
