Jeff Grimes breaks down Wisconsin football’s plan to rebuild its offense and what comes next
Wisconsin offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes explains the Badgers’ portal overhaul, the scheme, and why competition will shape 2026.
The conversations around Wisconsin football this offseason have not exactly been reserved. They’ve been reflective and at times blunt.
When a team finishes 4-8 on the season, and the offense ranks near the bottom of nearly every meaningful category, there is not much sense in pretending otherwise. Massive changes were needed to course correct.
In 2025, Jeff Grimes’ first season as the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, the Badgers finished No. 134 nationally in scoring offense at just 12.8 points per game, No. 132 in passing offense at 136.4 yards per game, and No. 135 overall in total offense at 253.1 yards per game.
Even with context applied, the results were difficult to ignore.
And if you really want to understand how deep the offensive issues went, the advanced numbers tell the same story. According to Game on Paper, Wisconsin ranked 132nd nationally in EPA per play, 131st in EPA per dropback, and 115th in EPA per rush. Inefficiency was not confined to a single area of this offense. Injuries certainly hampered what was possible and made week-to-week consistency in game planning difficult.
The reality is, the Badgers fielded one of the most limited offenses this football program has put on the field in recent memory.
“For me, it was another lesson in how you have to be really flexible,” Grimes said. “We recognized that we needed to be better. Coaches needed to be better, players needed to be better. The commitment from Mac [Chris McIntosh] and the university to allow us to go out and do what we needed to do in this transfer portal window was significant.”
So when Grimes spoke with ESPN Madison, the tone was less about defending what happened and more about acknowledging the need for improvement and outlining what comes next for Wisconsin’s offense.
Greater resources fueled an aggressive portal rebuild
Roster overhauls rarely happen by accident. They are typically the result of major deficiencies followed by institutional alignment, investment, and an understanding inside the building that something must change.
Grimes made that reality unmistakably clear.
“I thought we did a good job being ready to go,” Grimes said of the staff. “The process started for us even before we finished the season, knowing we were going to have some holes to fill and knowing we were going to have significantly greater resources than we had in the past.
“We understood our charge — to go recruit a team and upgrade our talent, experience, and depth at all positions on offense. We started that process early, taking a little time each week to look at guys who had given some indication they might enter the portal, or who we felt might be portal entries. Then after the season was over, it was all day, every day.”
And the results reflected that urgency.
Wisconsin added two quarterbacks, including what many inside the program view as the headliner of the class in Colton Joseph.
“He’s a guy that has incredible athletic ability,” Grimes said of Joseph. “He has arm talent. He’s competitive. And he’s a true dual-threat quarterback. He can run, he can throw, and he does both really well. I think the challenge for him is learning how to play in a system that’s a little different than what he’s been a part of.”
They also brought in three new running backs, one of whom, Abu Sama, projects as a plug-and-play starter. They supplemented the receiver room with size and speed options designed to compete for meaningful roles. They retooled the offensive line with a wave of transfer additions while returning multiple players who have already logged snaps. At tight end and up front, the goal was not just talent accumulation, but raising the floor and stabilizing the developmental timelines across the depth chart.
But Grimes’ comments describe more than a busy January. They reflect a program that appears more prepared than it has been in recent years.
General manager Marcus Sedberry and the administration had a clearer understanding of the funds available once retention decisions were finalized, which allowed the staff to move quickly and close on targets before the market shifted. That ability to act with conviction, rather than hesitation, suggested a more systematic level of preparation than it may have felt like in prior portal cycles. None of that guarantees results on Saturdays, but it does inspire a measure of confidence that Wisconsin has a firmer grasp on how it wants to operate in this era of college football.
Head coach Luke Fickell has said he believes the additional resources helped raise the overall talent level of the roster. What that ultimately translates to on the field remains to be seen, but there is clearly a lot more confidence inside the program about the roster they assembled this offseason.
