Wisconsin Badgers beat writer Jesse Temple will be analyzing the 25 most important players to the Badgers' success in the 2014 season. Check back each weekday to see the latest player on the list. You can find every report here.
Note: This is not a list of the team's 25 best players or a series about past success, but rather which of them means the most to how Wisconsin will fare this year. Criteria such as depth at that player's position, general expectations and overall importance of that player having a good season are all highly considered. The list does not include incoming freshmen because their potential impact is unknown at this time.
No. 16 -- Darius Hillary, cornerback
Why he's No. 16
Questions abound about how members of Wisconsin's front seven will perform given that most of them were bit players last season. It is the opposite scenario from a year ago, when the Badgers' front seven was considered the strength of the defense. On the back end, with Darius Hillary, Sojourn Shelton and Michael Caputo all returning, the secondary should now be considered a strength.
Hillary has been featured as the team's nickel back, which is an alignment that uses five defensive backs. And his role should continue to grow the more he performs. He endured some difficult moments last season, serving on a defense that allowed 352 yards passing to Arizona State and surrendering a 51-yard pass play to Illinois earlier in the year. But he came back strong and continued to improve.
Hillary recorded 30 tackles with six pass deflections, five breakups and one interception last season. In his career, he has 53 total tackles in 27 games.
Expectations for 2014
Fans look for members of the secondary to play solid defense and not surrender many game-killing big plays. That's basically what the expectations always are for cornerbacks, and the same will hold true for Hillary in 2014. He's a smart, tough football player, and the better he plays, the less opposing offenses will want to test him.
Hillary forms a pretty solid starting cornerback duo with Shelton, and Devin Gaulden emerged during the spring as another cornerback option, so the Badgers appear set at the position. If there's one area Hillary could try and improve, it's creating takeaways. While Shelton tallied four interceptions last year, no other player recorded more than one interception on the team.
What would they do without him?
There are a number of cornerbacks on the roster -- Hugs Etienne, Terrance Floyd, T.J. Reynard -- without much playing experience, if any. What Hillary brings is leadership, athletic ability and -- most important -- two years of game experience. Peniel Jean is one player who could fill out a big role in 2014 after recording 13 tackles a year ago.
It's possible that in Hillary's absence, the team could put more safeties on the field, but that isn't the ideal situation in defensive coordinator Dave Aranda's mind. A year ago, Wisconsin was so limited that safety Dezmen Southward occasionally was asked to be the team's third cornerback. This season, there should be much more balance on the back end.
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