For true freshmen, one of the biggest achievements is making the travel roster for road games. For the Wisconsin Badgers, there were four true freshmen who made the travel roster this weekend against the No. 12 UCLA Bruins.
Wisconsin had quarterback Ryan Hopkins, wide receiver Kash Brock, tight end Jack Sievers, and cornerback Donovan Dunmore all make the trip against Wisconsin.
The Badgers had a smaller 2026 recruiting class, taking in just 13 freshmen, so there aren’t many freshmen who would make the travel roster. For reference, Wisconsin had double-digit freshmen travel with the team at times last season.
Still, all four names are notable. Hopkins has seemingly been the No. 2 quarterback this season after competing with Deuce Adams for the backup role during the offseason. He has entered games in relief during blowouts twice this year and is the only other quarterback to take a snap for the Badgers other than Colton Joseph.
Sievers and Dunmore were two players that head coach Luke Fickell mentioned leading up to Week 1 as guys who he believed would earn reps as true freshmen on special teams immediately. Dunmore has also been the No. 2 boundary corner behind Javan Robinson over the past few weeks after Cai Bates suffered a season-ending injury.
Brock hasn’t seen much actual playing time on offense this season, but did factor in for a few snaps when the backup offense came in during Weeks 2 and 4. He was one of the most impressive players in Fall camp, although he wasn’t expected to carve out a role in the offense with Wisconsin’s depth at receiver. Still, he’d probably be the next man up on the two-deep after Chris Brooks, Tyrell Henry, Eugene Hilton, Malachi Coleman, Jaylon Domingeaux, and Shamar Rigby.
Wisconsin’s freshman class isn’t expected to see the field for meaningful snaps much this year, but there are a couple of players who have earned the right to travel with the team so far.