Lots of stuff to report from Tuesday night's practice. So, I decided to fire up a couple episodes of my son's "Friday Night Lights" first-season DVD and postpone bedtime for a few hours.

 After moving practice from the early morning to late evening, UW coach Bret Bielema praised the spirit shown by his players. "This is probably one of our better tempoed practices from the start to where we are now, just the way the guys are flying around and being active," Bielema said near the end of practice.

 But execution was another matter. The Badgers had one of their sloppiest practices of the spring, which was exacerbated by injuries to three more players at the two positions that could least afford them.

 Starting defensive end O'Brien Schofield, starting cornerback Mario Goins and backup cornerback Josh Nettles all left the practice with unspecified injuries. Bielema said he had no immediate updates on any of the injuries.

 The loss of Schofield came after the defensive line was just starting to get a little healthier, with the return of end Ricky Garner following a hamstring injury that forced him to miss a couple weeks.

 Without Schofield, Louis Nzegwu took over at left end with the No. 1 defense. Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Josh Neal, who is becoming a jock of all trades, moved out to right end with the No. 2 defense, which left converted walk-on offensive lineman Kenny Jones at right tackle. Garner was at left end and Jasper Grimes was at left tackle.

 The cornerbacks were hit even harder. Goins has been the most consistent cornerback during spring practices and Nettles, a junior, is the most experienced.

 That left sophomore Niles Brinkley at right cornerback and redshirt freshman Otis Merrill at left cornerback with the ones. The only other healthy cornerbacks left were junior Prince Moody, who got extensive work with the twos, along with two walkons, redshirt freshmen Chukwuma Offor and Andrew Lukasko.

 "Mario and Nettles had been playing the best at corner," Bielema said. "Prince Moody hasn't got very many reps since he's been in the program. He's had a pretty good spring but he hasn't been into the corner depth. Now, he gets his opportunity. Just another chance for a guy to get on the field."

 Despite the makeshift defense, it still came up with several interceptions as the UW quarterbacks endured a rough evening. It was a struggle most of the night for the passing game, although the backs had some nice long runs, including a couple by Zach Brown.

 There were several dropped passes, including at least two each by receiver Kyle Jefferson and running back John Clay. After each of his two drops, Jefferson trotted slowly, with his head down, to the end of the McClain Center field, pounded a padded wall in frustration, then trotted slowly back.

 Clay dropped a couple short passes, then made a nice catch on a low throw, only to be stripped of the ball a moment later. Clay did have a couple nice runs, including one quick hitter when he broke into the secondary and showed his moves. He also caught one pass where he easily outran the coverage of middle linebacker Elijah Hodge. But it was not a good night for Clay overall.

 Tight ends Lance Kendricks and Mickey Turner also dropped easy passes. Among the interceptions was one by Neal, listed at 5-foot-10, who dropped into coverage and reached as high as he could to intercept a pass by Alan Evridge. Moody had an interception that he returned for a touchdown against Dustin Sherer.

 Linebacker Blake Sorensen read a screen pass and took off running after an interception for what would have been a touchdown. Linebacker Erik Prather then made a leaping interception against Scott Tolzien. Even Lukasko, who is from Edgar and rarely gets snaps in practice, got in the act when he picked off a pass by freshman Curt Phillips.

 Things got so bad, at one point, with the injuries and sloppy play, it made you wonder if Bielema would have been better off cutting the practice short. But it went the scheduled length, finishing up at 10:11 p.m.

 Wide receiver Daven Jones missed practice with an illness, either strep throat or mono.

 Bielema also said walk-on linebacker Evan Millard, who had been helping out in the defensive line, had left the program.

 "He's basically a walk-on from (Palm Beach Gardens) Florida," Bielema said. "Due to personal matters right now, he's taking some time away. We wish him the best. It's just unfortunate. Sometimes it just doesn't always end up the way we want it to. He's given us everything he could but unfortunately wasn't able to finish with us."