Why Wisconsin football coaches need another scholarship quarterback

With just three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, the Wisconsin Badgers staff should seriously consider adding another to the room.

Photo credit: Christian Borman

The Wisconsin football program finds itself in a precarious yet intriguing position at quarterback heading into winter workouts and spring practice.

With only three scholarship players in the room following significant offseason turnover, the Badgers coaching staff faces a pressing decision: whether or not to bring in an additional quarterback from the portal to bolster its depth.

Maryland transfer Billy Edwards Jr. is all but locked in as the starter, having been a priority target for head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes during the winter portal window.

Edwards, who threw for 2,881 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions last season with the Terps, brings experience, mobility, and the ability to push the ball downfield to Wisconsin’s evolving offense. He checks a lot of boxes, but the staff knows maximizing his skill set and winning games next season will require everything to click around him.

“There were a number of things that impressed me with his film," Grimes said. "I saw a guy that had toughness, that was able to stand in there and take a lot of hits and not impact how he played the game.

"I thought he had arm talent, I thought he had good athletic ability, I like his size. So it was just really kind of a combination of all those things."

Grimes and quarterbacks coach Kenny Guiton are banking on Edwards' abilities being amplified by improved pass protection, a productive run game headlined by Darrion Dupree and Dilin Jones, and dynamic pass-catching options like Vinny Anthony, Trech Kekahuna, and Tanner Koziol.

Behind Edwards, San Diego State transfer Danny O’Neil provides stability as an experienced backup—a luxury few teams can afford in the portal era. With Wisconsin’s recent track record of needing backup quarterbacks to play significant snaps, his presence offers peace of mind.

Rounding out the room is true freshman Carter Smith, a four-star dual-threat quarterback with considerable upside but needs time to develop before taking on a sizeable role. Smith offers a bright future for the program, but expecting immediate contributions would be a stretch.

Still, with five quarterbacks leaving the program since Phil Longo’s departure—including Tyler Van Dyke, Braedyn Locke, and Mabrey Mettauer—Wisconsin’s quarterback room is walking on thin ice. One injury could turn an otherwise promising situation into a full-blown problem. And if history tells us anything, standing pat could be a recipe for disaster.

The Badgers have needed their backup to play significant snaps in all but two of the last 13 seasons—2017 and 2019 being the exceptions. Banking on a clean bill of health in this sport is rarely a wise bet.

If your starting quarterback goes down, are you in trouble? Absolutely. Most of the time, you're just hoping your backup can keep you afloat and avoid being the reason you lose — not necessarily expecting them to lead you to victory. With O'Neil, it seems Wisconsin has a steady presence.

But as we saw last season with Mettauer stepping into the backup role after Van Dyke went down, expecting a true freshman to contribute or even push to be a viable option if the next man up falls flat—as Locke did—is often unrealistic.

That’s why, in my opinion, the Badgers need to find someone willing to embrace the role of being a third-string quarterback. Even if, on a broader level, they don’t move the needle, they’d serve as an essential insurance policy.

Walk-on Milos Spasojevic, who stepped up as QB3 last season due to injuries, remains an option. The staff likes his potential, but realistically, it’s not the same as adding a scholarship-caliber player.

“We'll see,” Guiton said when asked about the idea of adding another quarterback. “We’re all kind of talking about that right now. Obviously, we’ve got Milo as well, and we think that he's a pretty good player that can keep progressing along and developing as well. So, we'll see.

"It's definitely a conversation that's around the building right now.”

Perhaps the coaching staff will emerge from spring practice feeling confident in their internal options and decide to stand pat. However, there’s also a realistic chance that after assessing where Smith and Spasojevic are at in their development, they may determine that adding a depth piece during the spring transfer portal window is necessary.

To be clear, if those younger players need additional time to grow, that’s perfectly reasonable—it's not uncommon for younger quarterbacks to need a longer runway to mature into viable contributors at the college level. This is about ensuring Wisconsin has the stability and depth at quarterback to navigate an entire season without unnecessary risk.

That said, it won’t be an easy sell for Wisconsin to attract any available quarterback, with the starting job spoken for, an experienced backup seemingly in place, and a highly touted freshman waiting in the wings.

Where would that leave any newcomer? Time will tell, but this is a decision the staff will need to approach with careful consideration. If the staff can add a body here, it feels like a move they can’t afford to pass up.

---

We appreciate you taking the time to read our work at BadgerNotes.com. Your support means the world to us and has helped us become a leading independent source for Wisconsin Badgers coverage.

You can also follow Site Publisher Dillon Graff at @DillonGraff on X.