How Wisconsin plans to use its quarterbacks in the run game under Jeff Grimes
Wisconsin plans to build around mobile quarterbacks in Jeff Grimes’ offense, but finding the right balance between run-game impact and durability will be key.
Many narratives have helped define the first three years of the Luke Fickell era at Wisconsin. Consistent quarterback play isn’t one of them.
To say that durability at that position has been a problem would be an understatement. Injuries have dictated far too much of the offensive story, even though the plan since Fickell arrived has been to build around a mobile quarterback. However, the Badgers’ preferred starter entering a season has finished just 11 of 37 games, and only two of the last 24.
By the end of Wisconsin’s underwhelming 4–8 campaign in 2025, the Badgers had become the only Big Ten team to have four different quarterbacks attempt at least 10 passes in a single season, which is a level of instability the football program hadn’t seen since 1956.
And yet, here they are, leaning even further into a model that inherently carries risk.
Entering Year 4 at Wisconsin, Fickell sits at 17–21 overall and 10–17 in Big Ten play, and the urgency to turn the program around is obvious. The Badgers’ offense needs to turn the corner in a meaningful way after finishing No. 134 nationally in scoring offense (12.8 points per game) and No. 135 in total offense (253.1 yards per game) last season.
That’s why the staff made Colton Joseph a priority target in the transfer portal, bringing in the former Old Dominion standout on a two-year deal to help orchestrate the system offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes wants to run.
And what Joseph brings to the room is exactly what Wisconsin has been missing — production, explosiveness, and a true dual-threat element that forces opposing defenses to account for him on every snap.
Through 19 career starts, Joseph has already produced at a high level, totaling 4,251 passing yards (8.3 YPA) and 32 touchdowns through the air, along with 1,654 rushing yards and 24 scores as a runner.
But that’s also where the tension lives.
Because the very thing that makes Joseph dynamic — his legs — is also what raises the biggest question: how much is too much?
