Wednesday State Sports Roundup: Badgers look to rebound against Illinois

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin tight end Jacob Pedersen says he’s been disappointed in his own play, in what’s been a disappointing season for the Badgers so far.

The redshirt junior said he reflected on his performance on Sunday, and figured out what he could do better. Pedersen said he needs to be a stronger complement to receiver Jared Abbrederis – and he must do a better job of blocking on running plays. Pedersen said he was getting away from his blocking technique, as he tried to be too over-powering. He has struggled at the line of scrimmage – and it might be affecting his abilities as a pass receiver. Pedersen has only nine catches this season – five fewer than at this point a year ago. He has scored one touchdown this year, compared with four in the first five weeks of 2011. The Badgers’ passing game is off as well. Quarterbacks Danny O’Brien and Joel Stave have thrown for a combined 918 yards – almost 500 fewer yards than at the same time a year ago. Wisconsin is 3-2 as its get ready to face a 2-3 Illinois squad on Saturday in Madison.

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Three WIAC football players have made the national Team-of-the-Week from D3football.com. They are UW-Oshkosh linebacker Taylor Goodman, defensive end Ryan Ericksen of Stout, and punter Christian Hallingstad of La Crosse. Goodman, a senior, had a sack and a tackle for a loss on back-to-back plays in a 19-to-7 Oshkosh victory over River Falls. He also forced a fumble that led to an Oshkosh field goal. Ericksen, a senior, had three sacks and a forced fumble for Stout in its 21-13 loss to Eau Claire. Hallingstad, also a senior, averaged 48 yards on eight punts for La Crosse in its 19-16 win at Stevens Point. He made three punts of 50 yards or longer, and booted three to within the opponents’ 20-yard-line.

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The Milwaukee Bucks opened their training camp yesterday with a two-and-a-half-hour contact practice, followed by non-contact work in the afternoon. Rookie forward John Henson said he was surprised by how fast the scrimmages were. Henson said the team ran through some of its sets – and he said the speed is the biggest adjustment he’ll have to make. In his words, “Everybody is moving fast out there … I’ll get used to it.” Henson starred at North Carolina last season, and he was the 14th overall pick in the June NBA Draft. After yesterday’s practice, Henson watched some film with Bucks’ assistant coach Joe Wolf – and they broke down some plays, and things for Henson to work on at his next workout. The Bucks’ second-round pick, guard Doron Lamb, sat out with a ligament injury in his left elbow. He’s not expected to play for several weeks. Lamb was hurt during informal drills last week, when his arm got caught in a jersey.

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