The Badgers named a starter for their final major fall camp battle.
The Wisconsin Badgers are nearly at the season opener, where they’ll take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks on Thursday evening, with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium.
Over the past few weeks, the Badgers have had a competitive fall camp, as the depth chart started to become clearer at several positions. But, there was one underrated fall camp battle that wasn’t clear heading into the final week before the season: kicker.
Throughout the offseason, senior Nathanial Vakos and senior Gavin Lahm had been competing for the starting job at kicker, with both reportedly having a nice fall camp. It seemed to be a tight battle, but Vakos was listed as the starting kicker on Wisconsin’s Week 1 depth chart, and head coach Luke Fickell confirmed the news on Monday.
“[Nathanial] Vakos is going to start off kicking for us,” Fickell said. “They sent me [the depth chart] last night, and I couldn’t even figure out if the ‘ORs’ were across or if it was down. I don’t know if that is part of Week 1 and a lot of unknowns, but that kicking has been a battle.
“They battled through the spring, and I think in the long run, we’ll still see [them both at some point]. The great thing about college, you still have some of those flexibilities of games to be able to play. But, we know this: that both of them are really, really good, and as you continue to always plan and look for the future, to be able to have one back was something that was going to be possibly important.
“So, right now, obviously, Vakos is the kicker. He’ll start off playing, doing that and playing the game, but we’ll still continue to push both those guys and give them opportunities.”
Vakos struggled in 2024, making only 12 of his 19 attempts. He was especially poor between 30 and 49 yards, going 6 for 13 in that range. That came after a 15/19 year in 2023 during his first season with the Badgers, where Vakos was 14/15 inside of 50 yards, but only 1/4 from 50 yards and beyond.
Vakos has been touted for his strong leg, but consistency and accuracy have been the two key flaws. He’ll need to improve that in 2025 to boost the Badgers offense, and he will get the chance to do so to start the season.
Category: General Sports
