Head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers advanced to 2-0 on the season after grinding out a 27-13 win over Bob Nielson and the South Dakota Coyotes at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.

“Games aren’t ever going to be perfect,” Fickell told reporters. “But the way that this team has responded when things aren’t going our way, that gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”

Here are the defensive snap counts from Pro Football Focus from the Week 2 win over South Dakota.

Defensive Line:

Curt Neal – Snap Count: [34]

Ben Barten – Snap Count: [32]

Elijah Hills – Snap Count: [30]

Dillan Johnson – Snap Count: [6]

Cade McDonald – Snap Count: [5]

Brandon Lane – Snap Count: [4]

Inside Linebackers:

Jaheim Thomas – Snap Count: [49]

Jake Chaney – Snap Count: [33]

Tackett Curtis – Snap Count: [17]

Christian Alliegro – Snap Count: [5]

Outside Linebackers:

Leon Lowery – Snap Count: [34]

Darryl Peterson – Snap Count: [31]

Aaron Witt – Snap Count: [22]

John Pius – Snap Count: [17]

Cornerbacks:

Ricardo Hallman – Snap Count: [52]

Nyzier Fourqurean – Snap Count: [30]

Xavier Lucas – Snap Count: [26]

Max Lofy – Snap Count: [25]

RJ Delancy – Snap Count: [4]

Safeties:

Hunter Wohler – Snap Count: [52]

Preston Zachman – Snap Count: [52]

Austin Brown – Snap Count: [12]

What changed for the Badgers since Week 1?

There were a few notable changes on the defensive side of the ball for the Wisconsin Badgers in Week 2. Jake Chaney getting ejected due to a targeting call forced Tackett Curtis into a major role against South Dakota, playing 17 defensive snaps after not playing at all in Week 1.

On the defensive line, it’s clear that Elijah Hills’ stock is on the way up, and Cade McDonald’s is on the way down. There are a lot of issues on the defensive line, but there is a pretty clear tier break between the top three options and the second-team players they’re mixing in behind them.

Given the lack of pressure fans and media have seen from the Badgers quartet of outside linebackers through two weeks, you have to wonder if we’ll eventually see more Jaheim Thomas snaps on the outside to make way for additional opportunities for Christian Alliegro at inside backer? Alliegro is one of the better athletes on the defense and is too dynamic, in my opinion, not to have a more defined role for Mike Tressel.

Lastly, it didn’t take long for Xavier Lucas to put himself in a position to play a meaningful role in Wisconsin’s secondary. Still, the jump from seven snaps last week to 26 is substantial, especially when he’s eating into the snap counts of veterans that the Badgers’ coaching staff trusts. Lucas will face a lot of tough competition throughout the season, but the Florida native has a chance to be the CB1 this time next year; he’s that talented.

MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education will have district policies in front of them again when it meets next in regular session.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Mitchell Middle School.

The board is expected to review district policy 121 and policies 400 through 600 on second reading after a lengthy review at the board’s previous meeting earlier this month. Most of the discussion around the policies, which primarily deal with district financial management and procedures, centered around wording changes and minor updates.

The board will also hold its first reading for any potential changes to district policies 211 and 745.

Policy 211 deals with board of education member compensation and expenses. The policy was brought to the previous board meeting by Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, as a last-minute agenda item but some board members felt that such policy discussion should be reviewed only if it was included with the agenda to which the public has early access.

Childs said he had no problem with bringing the item back for the Sept. 9 meeting.

Policy 211, as it currently reads, states board members should receive a per diem for each regular and special meetings of the board, as well as a per-diem for committee meetings assigned by the board. According to the policy, board members shall receive compensation for no more than 40 per diem events per year with a total maximum annual allocation of $2,400 per board member. Those do not include reimbursement for board travel.

Policy 745 deals with criminal background checks for individuals approved for hire by the district.

In addition to the above policies, the board will also consider the readoption of existing board policies.

The board of education will also consider approval of admission prices. Childs said he recommended approving the current admission prices for the new school year. Those prices are:

• Adult, $5
• Students, $3
• Activity Pass, $40

The board will consider declaring several pieces of Mitchell High School property as surplus.

The items in question are 21 Miller Digital Elite welding helmets, which the district has estimated have no value.

Also at the meeting, the board will consider the following personnel moves:

• The new classified hires of Emma Selland, paraeducator at Longfellow Elementary, $16 per hour, 7 hours per day, effective Sept. 9; Dani Hansen, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 4 hours on Gold Days, effective Sept. 12 and Karen Stephens, paraeducator at Mitchell High School, $16 per hour, 7.25 hours per day, effective Sept. 10.
• The resignation of MacKenzie Olsen, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, effective Sept. 9.

Also at the meeting, the board is expected to:

• Hear board member reports.
• Hear the superintendent report, which includes a tour of Mitchell Middle School.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be livestreamed by the Mitchell Republic on its website.

Erik Kaufman joined the Mitchell Republic in July of 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com.