MADISON, Wis. -- Jim Leonhard knows a bit about overachieving.
Coming out of Flambeau High School in Tony, Wisconsin, not one FBS school offered him a scholarship. He walked on at Wisconsin, became a three-time All-American safety and punt returner, went undrafted and still played 10 NFL seasons for five different teams, starting 73 games. He had no official coaching experience when he joined Wisconsin's staff in 2016 but is already among the nation's top defensive coordinators. Florida State and Alabama were among those inquiring about his services over the winter.
Leonhard is, in many ways, the poster boy (at 35, he still looks 23) for what a program like Wisconsin can accomplish. But in his eyes, Wisconsin doesn't need to punch above its weight to move up in class.
"The goal is not, 'On your best day, you can beat Ohio State'," Leonhard told ESPN.com. "It's how can you get to that position where you feel confident that if we just play our game, we're going to be OK. That's always a goal, what you're fighting for as a coach, and, as players, that's what they work for."
How close is Wisconsin to taking the championship stage with bona fide elites and knowing it doesn't need things to line up just right to win? The Badgers believe they're close, if not there already, and recent evidence backs it up.
"If you come to Wisconsin, you don't get these four- and five-star recruits, but you get guys who can really give their body to try to do their best out there every Saturday with these powerhouse teams," All-American linebacker T.J. Edwards said. "We know we can match up with anybody."
It's why Wisconsin's 2018 outlook should not be judged strictly by the familiar sights: a hulking, experienced offensive line on magazine covers; a running back contending for the Heisman Trophy; numerous projections already handing the Big Ten West division to coach Paul Chryst's team.
These preseason tributes have become standard for a program that is the model for consistency -- four consecutive seasons of 10 or more wins, two straight New Year's Six bowl wins and top-10 finishes, nine seasons of 10 or more wins since 2005, just one losing season since 1995. But they also usually come with qualifiers and stereotypes: Wisconsin is known for offensive linemen and running backs, but not perimeter speed at receiver and in the secondary. Wisconsin dominates a bad division but can't win a lopsided league. Wisconsin will always be very, very, very good, but never quite nationally elite.
The 2018 Badgers, meanwhile, place no limitations on what they can achieve.
"It's just been one game, one finish away," safety D'Cota Dixon said. "And then, obviously, you get to compete for a national title, which everyone is trying to do."
Wisconsin was a win away from making its first College Football Playoff appearance last year, as it faced Ohio State in the Big Ten championship. A year earlier, the Badgers sought their first Big Ten title in four years as they took on Penn State in Indianapolis. Both games resulted in single-digit losses, and, to some, further proof that Wisconsin can't catch teams with superior talent when it really matters.
Yet there are two ways to look at those setbacks. Wisconsin stormed out to a 28-7 lead on Penn State before Trace McSorley and his big-play receivers rallied back. In last year's game, Wisconsin's normally sound defense fell apart in the first half as Ohio State piled up 21 points and 309 yards on only 33 plays. There were missed tackles and busted coverages, yet the Badgers still had a genuine chance to win as they took possession at their own 29-yard line, down six with 2:59 to play.
A Big Ten offensive coordinator who watched the game said Ohio State "should have had 50 points on [Wisconsin]. In that game, their lack of athletic ability got exposed."
But, to Leonhard's point, Wisconsin didn't play its best game against the Buckeyes -- far from it -- and still had an opportunity to punch its playoff ticket. "It just shows we're not very far from where we want to be," Leonhard said. "We were right there.
"We just have to finish," added Dixon. "It's nothing to talk about. It's not five stars. We've beaten teams with tons of talent. I don't think that's an issue. We've got talent, too. We really do."
Yes, they really do.
This is where the view of Wisconsin should already be changing. A defense doesn't rank second nationally in the FBS in points allowed (16.1 ppg), yards allowed (286.2 ypg), rushing yards allowed (104.4 ypg) and pass efficiency defense (106 rating) over the past five seasons -- a stretch spanning three different coordinators -- without top-level athletes. Only Alabama has allowed fewer points and yards during the same span, which brought two national titles to Tuscaloosa.
The loss of seven defensive starters will test Wisconsin's ability to sustain, but Edwards and Ryan Connelly, who combined for 22 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2017, form one of the nation's best inside linebacker tandems. Dixon is a two-time All-Big Ten selection. Nose tackle Olive Sagapolu has started 19 games and is best known for being a 342-pound man who does backflips and aerial splits.
Dixon occasionally hears the talent argument used against Wisconsin.
"I don't really look at it," he said. "I feel like these teams have more to worry about with us, if anything. I'm comfortable with my boys."
One of the biggest reasons for Wisconsin's opponents to worry this fall is the Badgers' wide receiver group. While Wisconsin has had a handful of capable wideouts in the past decade -- Jared Abbrederis, Alex Erickson, Nick Toon -- it rarely featured more than two at a time. Tight end proved to be a much bigger threat than receiver, where overall recruiting and development dropped off after health issues forced longtime assistant Henry Mason to step away from coaching in 2007.
Wisconsin enters 2018 with multiple receivers who have plus speed. Quintez Cephus, Danny Davis and A.J. Taylor all averaged more than 15 yards per reception with at least five touchdowns. Add in Kendric Pryor and the four wideouts combined for 100 catches, averaging 15.7 yards per reception.
Taylor finished with career highs in both receptions (8) and receiving yards (105) in Wisconsin's Capital One Orange Bowl win over Miami, while Davis caught a career-high three touchdowns in the victory. Cephus returns from a leg injury, while freshman Aron Cruickshank, at just 5-foot-9 and 154 pounds, gives the team another speed threat.
"It's just cool because we all bring something different to our table with our speed," Taylor said. "We catch the long balls if need be, and we can catch the quick, short balls if need be. Averaging 15 yards a catch, I didn't even know about that. That's cool to hear."
"You get excited when you have them one-on-one, or you have someone flying into a window," quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr said. "It's real."
Taylor, not surprisingly, lists himself as the fastest, followed closely by Pryor. He can't pick between Davis and Cephus. "There's a little gap," he said with a smile. But for an offense that rarely had more than two perimeter options, this is different. Offensive tackle David Edwards said the receiving corps takes pressure off of the line because opposing safeties and linebackers can't always stack the box, anticipating the run.
"We've always had that running back and the O-line, that's something we pride ourselves in, but we definitely have the skill," quarterback Alex Hornibrook said. "These guys are as good or better than anybody I've played against."
Chryst loves the way his players respond to the talent question.
"They should think like that," Chryst said. "The players aren't going to let that be the excuse."
The defense has been Wisconsin's signature unit recently, but the 2018 offense could be the best since 2011, when a quarterback named Russell Wilson transferred in from NC State and proceeded to set the FBS single-season passing efficiency record (191.8) while throwing a team-record 33 touchdown passes. Hornibrook likely won't match those numbers, but the third-year starter, often a piñata for folks around here because of his interceptions, comes off of a career performance against Miami in the Orange Bowl. He lit up the Hurricanes for 258 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and an adjusted QBR of 96.7 in a 34-24 win.
Hornibrook will play behind arguably the nation's best line, throw to a group of speedy receivers and hand off to sophomore Jonathan Taylor, who last year broke Adrian Peterson's FBS freshman rushing record with 1,977 yards. Wisconsin's offense should be a juggernaut, and if the defense merely approaches recent performance, this could be the most balanced Badger team during the recent run of 10-win seasons.
"The goal is to play good football. I would never sit there and say, 'This is the formula,'" Chryst said. "Your really good teams, you don't necessarily have one side carrying the other."
Balance and talent. It's the perfect combination for the 2018 Badgers, even when they don't play perfect in the biggest games.
"When you play those really good teams, you've got to be on, and when you're not, it's hard to beat 'em," Hornibrook said. "But obviously, it's relative. If you're that really good team, too, you probably can have a couple things you do wrong and you can still win."