Despite all the negative headlines being generated from the Quintez Cephus case, the news out of Madison is not all bad for Wisconsin this week as the team learned they could be on the verge of getting a very important weapon back in action with a week to go before the season opener.
We’re talking, of course, about one of the Badgers most prolific scoring threats in kicker Rafael Gaglianone. The Brazilian who has shown a knack for making clutch kicks in critical situations has been sidelined for most of this month as the result of back issues. It appears the healing process is going well however because the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says that he was just approved to resume kicking.
Those back issues are what originally cost Gaglianone most of his 2016 campaign after had to go under the knife to deal with the pain after starting that season 7-of-8. He went a robust made 16-of-18 on field goals last season and nailed all of his extra points as well as the program went 13-1 and won the Orange Bowl.
The return of Gaglianone not only comes just in time for the 2018 campaign but also takes the pressure off some of the inexperienced backups that were set to handle kicking duties in his absence. According to the paper, redshirt freshman Collin Larsh was taking most of the first team reps as a result but redshirt junior Zach Hintze is also in the mix.
Wisconsin probably doesn’t need Gaglianone given the relatively lackluster nature of the team’s non-conference slate but they will want him near 100% by the time Big Ten play rolls around. Having a healthy kicker like that could make all the difference in that those close Big Ten and College Football Playoff races after all and Gaglianone has proven himself as one of the best around in the league already.