MADISON, Wis. — No. 19 Wisconsin probably will have to open the season without center Jake Renfro and tight end Riley Nowakowski due to foot injuries.
“We’ll definitely have them back,” coach Luke Fickell told reporters after Saturday’s practice. “It’s just [a matter of] how soon.”
Wisconsin opens the season Sept. 2 by hosting Buffalo.
Renfro earned first-team all-conference honors in 2021 while playing for a Fickell-coached Cincinnati team that reached the College Football Playoff from the American Athletic Conference. After missing the entire 2022 season with a knee injury, Renfro followed Fickell from Cincinnati to Wisconsin.
“We’re hoping it’s three, four weeks,” Fickell said. “We don’t know exactly. We’ll get him back. It’s just how quickly will we get him. I don’t know that we can get him back for Game 1. Will we get him back Game 2 or 3? I hope. We’ll kind of see. It’s just a foot sprain.”
Nowakowski is a former walk-on who had made enough of an impression on the new staff that he was often working with the first-team offense during preseason camp.
“We’re hoping maybe four weeks, five weeks, six,” Fickell said of Nowakowski’s injury. “We don’t know.”
Wisconsin already was dealing with depth issues at tight end even before Nowakowski’s injury. Wisconsin announced at the start of preseason camp that tight ends Clay Cundiff and Jack Eschenbach had both left the program. Cundiff has since stated on social media that he has ended his football career due to repeated injuries.