Alabama football is about to face the Wisconsin Badgers, but JaMarcus Shephard is preparing his receivers to face a different animal.

Shephard, Crimson Tide co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach, has coached in the Big Ten before. He spent four seasons with Purdue from 2017-2021 before he worked with Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer in Washington. So he’s got familiarity with Wisconsin.

“Certainly they’re going to big,” Shephard said Wednesday. “They’re going to be physical. They’re going to be coming down hill and hit. That’s just the brand of football they play. Up in Wisconsin, it’s a little bit colder, it’s a little bit more burly. There’s a few more beards out there coming out of facemasks and what not. I told them, ‘Just be prepared to see a bunch of grizzly bears up there. We’ve got to be able to go out there and defeat the grizzly bears.”

No. 4 Alabama (2-0) will be making its first trip to Madison, Wisconsin to face Wisconsin (2-0) since 1928. The Crimson Tide probably won’t be seeing any literal grizzly bears at Camp Randall Stadium, but a raucous environment is certainly expected. It will be Alabama’s first road game of the 2024 season.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.