Film room: What does transfer QB Colton Joseph bring to Wisconsin football?
Breaking down the All-22 tape of the Wisconsin Badgers' newest QB1, Colton Joseph.
Two days after the transfer portal opened, Wisconsin football landed its white whale; its pièce de résistance; the crowning jewel of its transfer portal class — former Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph.
Joseph was considered one of the better gunslingers in the portal after he was crowned the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year following a stellar season in which he tossed for 2,624 yards and ran for another 1,007, totaling 34 touchdowns.
It’s no secret that Joseph is the most exciting quarterback the Badgers have lured to Madison in quite some time. His tantalizing dual-threat ability and almost two years of starting experience have him locked in as the de facto QB1 for Wisconsin.
So what can the Badgers expect out of their new starting signal-caller? Below, BadgerNotes.com dives into the film.
*Author’s note: this film study includes plays from Old Dominion’s games against Power Four competition in 2025: at Indiana and at Virginia Tech.
Accuracy — The Good and the Bad
One of the biggest knocks I’ve heard on Joseph is that he can struggle with accuracy and ball placement. And while this certainly pops up on tape, there are far more examples to the contrary:
This is a perfectly thrown ball to the back line of the end zone for a touchdown. It’s a hard enough throw to make from the pocket, let alone drifting backwards with pressure in your face.
That wasn’t the only example of perfect touch in the red zone in this game. Feast your eyes on this gorgeous slot fade that went for another six points and was the proverbial dagger in the Monarchs’ blowout win over Virginia Tech:
Joseph throws his receiver open here, as it’s pretty much blanket coverage from the Hokies’ defensive back. This is a high-level throw that will translate to any level of football.
I felt compelled to include some of Joseph’s best throws first, because, as mentioned, there’s a prevailing discourse that he struggles with accuracy.
And again, I’m not here to completely refute that. There are certainly some misses on tape, none worse than this pick against Indiana:
Joseph’s X receiver runs an in-breaking route, and a perfect throw might’ve gotten him the ball. Instead, it’s woefully behind his intended target and the pass falls right into the waiting arms of a Hoosier safety.
Joseph isn’t pressured on this throw; it’s just a flat-out misfire. That’s obviously not a great look, but it’s also an anomaly. He didn’t miss a throw that badly in the rest of the film I watched, and it’s not like he necessarily struggled over the middle against Indiana’s zone:
The above play is a very similar route concept to the above interception. The far outside receiver runs an in-breaking route and finds a soft spot in the Hoosiers’ zone, and this time Joseph has no trouble getting him the ball.
Whereas Joseph’s horrific miss on the above interception looks like a one-off, the ability to consistently hit receivers over the middle doesn’t. That’s important because the Sun Belt isn’t exactly known to be a conference littered with rugged defenses. The throwing windows will be tighter and close much quicker in the Big Ten. But Joseph appears to have what it takes in that department:
One last note on Joseph’s accuracy: his misses aren’t always as catastrophic as the pick against Indiana highlighted above. But misfires like the one below are certainly something he’ll need to clean up; they’re extremely avoidable and can stall out drives:
Running Wild
This play was the very first snap of the season for Old Dominion:
