Over the course of the summer leading up to Big Ten Media Days and fall camp, Badgers On SI will extensively preview Wisconsin football's roster with a write-up for each player expected to be remotely involved in 2026.
We continue the series with a native Wisconsinite coming home after two years at Iowa State, safety Carson Van Dinter.
18 tackles, one PBU (180 defensive snaps)
Though Van Dinter saw fewer than 200 defensive snaps last fall, his second year at Iowa State, the safety got some legit experience. He played plenty in the Cyclones' Week 0 opener in Ireland against Kansas State, and also earned some starter-level reps towards the end of the season (making one start officially).
The Kaukauna, Wisconsin native didn't make a huge impact in Ames with such limited reps, but he still put some intriguing traits on display. Van Dinter is blazing fast, and he's also a very eager and capable tackler. Physicality is a definite part of his game, as this spring, defensive coordinator Mike Tressel confirmed that he "likes to hit."
Where the safety still needs to grow is in man coverage, where at times last fall, he tended to get a little lost against shiftier receivers at the top of routes. Nonetheless, the speed and insticts make him an intriguing developmental prospect.
This fall at Wisconsin, he'll be in his third year of college ball. Still, he should be the team's No. 3 or even No. 4 safety behind starters Marvin Burks Jr , Matt Jung and potentially even second-year Cairo Skanes. Wisconsin should be able to deploy him very selectively and situationally, which should be excellent for his development.
"He played in the game out in Ireland, and some other games that he played in last year, and you see a willingness to play hard. We talk about superpowers, his superpower is that he plays so hard. The willingness to tackle, the willingness to play aggressive. Obviously, had great speed coming out of high school so we knew he was a good athlete. And when you're a home grown guy like that, you feel like that guy is gonna do everything extra he's gotta do to be a productive player here," safeties coach Jack Cooper said this spring .
Wisconsin safety Carson Van Dinter. | Christian Borman.
Wisconsin's aforementioned starting safeties, Burks and Jung, look about as locked into their roles as possible. Jung is a returning starter who attended Big Ten Media Days, while Burks is a two-year starter in the SEC. There doesn't appear to be too much upwards mobility in this safety room, but in a best-case scenario for Van Dinter, he shines in fall camp and pushes for rotational reps in a third safety role, similar to the role Jung played last fall before an injury to Preston Zachman thrust him into the starting role.
If Van Dinter shines in fall camp, he could force Tressel's hand and make the Badgers use more three-safety packages than they initially planned. His ability to play both field safety and boundary safety coupled with his speed quickly endears him to the coaching staff once he proves he can hold his own when the bullets start flying.
In this case, Van Dinter isn't a starter but he feels like he could be, and he still manages to have a career year statistically in his rotational role. He positions himself for a starting gig in 2027 should he stay in Madison.
Van Dinter has a lot of positive traits, but the staff also loves second-year safety Cairo Skanes. If Skanes has a stellar camp while Van Dinter doesn't make many splash plays, the pair could enter the season neck-and-neck in the pecking order, still constantly battling reps. In that case, they would likely eat into each other's snap count and neither would have a very productive year.
Or, even worse, Van Dinter could get flat-out surpassed by Skanes in the pecking order and wind up playing fewer snaps than he did in his second year at Iowa State. That seems like a less-likely outcome, but it's still certainly on the table.
Former Iowa State Cyclones defensive back Carson van Dinter. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Given Van Dinter's experience, I see him seeing the field in a rotational capacity this season. Cooper described him as a "developmental" prospect; the staff isn't planning on relying on him this fall.
The safety should ultimately have a pretty similar season to what he had last fall in Ames, potentially with slightly fewer snaps on defense. There's a lot to like with the Iowa State transfer, but he appears to be a year away from a significant role.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/wisconsin as Player Previews: Will Speedy Iowa State Transfer Carson Van Dinter Contribute in 2026? .
