Freshman growth, position change highlight Year 1 at Wisconsin for Joe Tippmann

To say Joe Tippmann had a year of adjustments in his first season of FBS football at the University of Wisconsin would be accurate.

But it would also be true in saying that the offensive lineman did not lack in preparedness for big-time college football.

The Bishop Dwenger product would currently rather be working in Madison towards getting ready for his sophomore campaign. The annual spring game was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 18. Instead, Tippmann – the 2018 Outside the Huddle Player of the Year – is back in Fort Wayne staying sharp while awaiting the call to return to Wisconsin.

“The biggest adjustment (as a freshman) was probably the work load and the speed of play,” said Tippmann. “But it was a smooth transition for me because I would say I came in pretty ready physically.”

The Badgers are traditionally a power when it comes to offensive lineman, rarely even factoring in true freshman as viable candidates to get into a game. Even so, Tippmann said he came close to seeing game action during the 2019 campaign in which Wisconsin went 10-4 and won the Big Ten West.

The biggest story for the 6-foot-6 Tippmann last fall was transitioning from offensive guard to center. After filling that role on the scout team, Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst gave the go-ahead to move Tippmann to the middle of the offensive front.

“My coach said he saw how I was doing and that he liked the way I played at center,” Tippmann said.

For Tippmann, it was a season worth of training for a completely different position. Instead of having his hand down on the ground and bursting out of his stance into a block or a pull, his first priority has now become getting the ball to the quarterback.

This spring was supposed to be an opportunity for Tippmann to look to make a move up the depth chart in preparation for the 2020 season. But the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to that. But once things return to some semblance of normalcy, Tippmann is ready to make an impression at his new position.

“Going into spring ball I was competing for the center spot, but it unfortunately didn’t go the way I wanted it,” Tippmann said. “I’ll just have to control the controllables for now and hopefully get another opportunity in the summer and fall.”