When Alabama safeties coach Colin Hitschler looks down onto the field from the visiting coaches' booth Saturday, he’ll see several familiar faces on the opposing sideline.

Alabama’s road matchup against Wisconsin will be a homecoming of sorts for Hitschler. The first-year Tide safeties coach spent the 2023 season with the Badgers as the safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator alongside Badgers head coach Luke Fickell and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel.

“There’s a number of them all throughout that program that I’ve been with for a number of years that I consider close friends,” Hitschler said. “Every time you go against buddies in this industry it's unique and you try not to engage with them too much going into the game because you stay focused on your guys and what you need to do to win the game.”

While Hitschler is preparing his own veteran secondary to face a physical and intelligent Badgers offense, he’s also assisted Alabama’s offense for one of the best defensive players it will face this season. In 2023, Hitschler was a key developer of Badgers' safety Hunter Wohler, who broke out in his junior campaign under Hitschcler’s tutelage.

After totaling 21 tackles in 2022, Wohler’s production skyrocketed as he racked up a gaudy 120 tackles, which ranked second in the Big Ten and helped Wohler earn first-team all-conference honors. Wohler also tallied two interceptions and six pass deflections.

“He’s a ball hawk,” Hitschler said. “He has an elite feel for going to find the football. And I think he’s a really intelligent player who loves the game of football.”

Alabama is well aware of Wohler’s capabilities, and he isn’t the only member of the secondary who Hitschler worked with last season that the Tide will face. The Badgers also returned safety Preston Zachman, and starting cornerbacks Nyzier Fourqurean and Ricardo Hallman.

With a wealth of experienced players in Wisconsin’s defensive backfield, Alabama’s offensive staff members haven’t been afraid to lean on Hitschler for advice in scheming against the players he previously worked with.

“Their group that they have this year, there's a lot of returners, specifically in the back end and in the middle of their defense,” Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said. “But then there's some new pieces and we'll be ready to adjust depending on how they decide to play us. But certainly, there's things that we're talking to Coach Hitch about relative to the way that they structure their defense or the calls, or whatever that may be. He's a great sounding board that way.”

Hitschler’s previous stop should help give Alabama’s offense a leg up on Saturday, and the first-year Tide safeties coach is already starting to get some of the same high-level production out of Alabama’s safeties that he did out of players like Wohler a year ago. Redshirt sophomore Keon Sabb had two interceptions against Western Kentucky. Malachi Moore has nine tackles and a pair of pass deflections through two games so far.

“It’s a special group,” Hitschler said. “We kind of knew going into Game 1 and Game 2 and two very different approaches from offense football and having to deal with some of the different things that they present. I think it allowed us to improve and that’s what it’s all about getting better week in and week out and I think the best days are still ahead of us.

After being a trusted adviser under Fickell, Hitschler will march his still-improving Alabama safety room into his former home field with another coach who he has developed a strong relationship with over the years.

When Kane Wommack arrived at South Alabama before the 2016 season to be its defensive coordinator, Hitschler was about to start his second season as the director of football operations. One year later, Hitschler was promoted to safeties coach and he and Wommack oversaw a South Alabama defense that finished ninth in the country in passing defense in 2017. Jaguars safety Jeremy Reaves also won Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year that season.

“Hitsch and I have worked together before, probably the best gameday mind adjustment-wise that I've been around,” Wommack said. “He sees things up in the box, does a great job of being kind of my eyes and ears up there from a communication standpoint on gameday.”

After departing for Cincinnati in 2018, Hitshcler went on to show Fickell and Tressel what Wommack had learned a few seasons prior. The trio led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff in 2021 with the nation's No. 2 pass defense and No. 5 scoring defense.

They kept the band together at Wisconsin last season. But a chance to partner back up with Wommack at a place like Alabama was something Hitshcler couldn’t pass up.

“To get back into that system with Coach Wommack is great and I think the players and the ability the players here have and the brand,” Hitschler said. “The brand is second to none here in college football and who wouldn’t want to be a part of it?”

When Wisconsin’s defense takes the field Saturday, Hitschler will look down from the booth and see a group of familiar faces on the opposing sideline. However, he won’t be thinking about his former colleagues. Instead, he’ll look down at another coach he’s built trust with and a group of veteran safeties hoping to take the air out of a rocking Camp Randall Stadium.

“We've talked about that before, defense is inherently reactionary,” Wommack said. “We're trying to get our guys to play with anticipation. I think he does that as good as anybody. Very happy for him to be here with us and excited to be back in the foxhole with him again.”