Tight end has been a strange position for Wisconsin football under head coach Luke Fickell.

Last season, Montana State transfer Lance Mason was the Badgers' leading receiver with 30 catches for 398 yards and four touchdowns. He was a solid player at the Big Ten level, and he's getting a shot as an undrafted free agent in the NFL.

Otherwise, this room has been largely barren of talent and devoid of production. In 2024, Wisconsin's leading receiving tight end Tucker Ashcraft had 82 yards. In 2023, Hayden Rucci led the way in the room with all of 125 yards.

In 2026, the Badgers look to have some intriguing pieces. They added Bowling Green transfer Jacob Harris, whose size, athleticism and hands have him positioned to be a receiving threat. They also added FCS transfer Ryan Schwendeman and return Grant Stec and Emmett Bork.

But there's another player in the room that's caught our eye this fall camp: second-year tight end Nizyi Davis.

Davis turns heads at fall camp

Davis wasted little time making an impression on me this fall camp. The first practice I attended, session No. 4, he immediately made his presence felt with a massive pancake block in a run game drill.

The next day, he did the exact same thing, pancaking transfer outside linebacker Jayden Loftin in dramatic fashion, driving him 15 yards downfield before taking him to the turf.

I also saw Davis reel in a few passes in the flat that he turned into solid gains with some good run-after-catch. The athletic, 6-5, 237-pound tight end is the lightest scholarship tight end on the roster, and he looks it. But he's also displayed some of the nastiest physicality I've seen from that room.

“There’s a physicality and a toughness that quite honestly I don’t know that I had seen," head coach Luke Fickell said this fall. "Everybody’s on a toughness battle or journey, and when you walk in the door the whole objective is you have to grow in it. And he has grown.”

If this was simply about unlocking Davis' toughness, the Badgers have to love what they see. Because it's as if something clicked for the tight end, and now he's one of the more physical, aggressive players on the offensive side of the ball.

“I think it’s a real testament to the competition in the room, what some of the leadership has done in terms of the expectation of preparation, what your individual habits are," tight ends coach Nate Letton added.

"For a young kid, especially at this position, it takes time. Zi clearly has the talent to do it, then you couple that with the habits, and the routine, and that’s the result you’re seeing.”