Isaiahh Loudermilk a young, raw talent on UW's defense
MADISON – Consider freshman
Isaiahh Loudermilk a lump of clay in the process of being molded by Wisconsin defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield.
That lump of clay stands 6 foot 7 and weighs 296 pounds, however, and played eight-man football in a small town in Kansas.
“There is a huge curve from that to this,” Loudermilk, who redshirted last season and is working at end, said after practice Thursday. “With just three linemen in eight-man football, you only have to worry about three people who are going to block you.
“Here you can get different types of blocks. It’s not just one-on-one blocking.
“The technique is completely different. There I just lined up in a three-point stance and shot out. It was pretty much pass rush 24/7.
“Now you have read blocks and have a perfect fit.”
The transition from eight-man football means Loudermilk is being exposed to a variety of techniques for the first time.
“You get a clean slate in that everything he is learning now is gospel,” Breckterfield said. “It is going to take all spring, all summer, all fall and maybe into the middle of the season to get it all figured out.
“But he is in front of the curve, in my opinion, of where I want him to be. So that’s a good thing.”
Loudermilk was an all-state pick as a senior at West Elk High School after recording 97 tackles. He played mostly end on a three-man line but also got work at nose guard and middle linebacker.
His favorite position?
“Tight end,” he said without hesitation. “I loved catching passes.”
Loudermilk understands those days are history. He has been getting plenty of work this spring largely because Chikwe Obasih, who has started 31 games and played in 41 at UW, is being held out of practice to recover from an unspecified injury.
Loudermilk hopes to get work as a backup in the fall. He likely will be in the running for a starting spot in 2018.
“I’d like to give him some reps next year to get his feet wet,” Breckterfield said. “But he’s got a lot of growing to do. I am feeding him as many reps I can this spring."
Loudermilk has the size to play the position. He weighed 277 pounds when he signed with UW and peaked at 302 after joining the program last summer. The staff wants him to maintain his weight at about 295 pounds.
He remains fairly mobile for his size, which he attributes to his work on the basketball court. Loudermilk was an all-state performer as a junior when he averaged 19.2 points, 14.7 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game.
Loudermilk had football scholarship offers from Oregon, Minnesota, Vanderbilt and Texas Tech. He was recruited to UW by wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore.
Gilmore and Loudermilk both were born in Wichita, Kan. Loudermilk was in second grade when his family moved to Howard, Kan., which has fewer than 1,000 residents and is about 61 miles southeast of Wichita.
“They don’t play football where he is from,” Gilmore teased Loudermilk on Thursday. “I grew up an hour and 15 minutes from there. I didn’t even know it was there.”
When Loudermilk visited UW, he found a city small enough that it wasn’t intimidating. He wasn’t interested in living in a larger city and felt at home in Madison.
Now he is working to earn playing time in the fall.
“I’m hoping so,” he said, “but I’m still going to have to keep working and improve every day to get where I really want to be.”