Wisconsin football X-factors: A deep dive into QB Billy Edwards Jr.

The Maryland transfer is the unquestioned QB1 in Madison. But after a rough 4-8 season with the Terps last fall, what does he offer Wisconsin? BadgerNotes dives into the film.

In year three of the Luke Fickell era, Wisconsin football has a handful of players who are known quantities. Yet a good chunk of the roster is comprised of players who are difficult to project for 2025. Whether they have yet to don the Cardinal and White or appear to have untapped potential, the Badgers have plenty of “X-Factors” slated for key roles this fall.

Our breakdowns of these players begin with the starting quarterback, Billy Edwards Jr.

Photo Credit: Imagn

WHERE HE THRIVES

If you take a quick glance at his stat line from last fall — 2,881 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions on 65% completion, plus five rushing scores and 150 yards on the ground — it’d be fair to assume that Edwards, while far from dynamic, did a handful of things well en route to some respectable numbers.

After watching every pass he threw in 2024, however, one area of his game stands out above the rest: throws over the middle.

Even in his bad games, of which there were a few (Northwestern and Minnesota in particular), Edwards’ timing and accuracy over the middle was generally the best part of his game as a passer.

This throw against Michigan State is a good example of a play Edwards made with surprising regularity last season: hitting his receiver in stride over the middle for a nice pickup.

Edwards especially excelled in this area when teams played zone coverage. He displayed an ability to consistently layer the ball between the linebacker and safety as he did below against UConn. Watch the ball flutter just over the outstretched arms of the strong-side edge rusher who drops into coverage:

When given a clean pocket and enough time to go through his progressions, Edwards saw the middle of the field really well and had no problem putting the requisite zip on the ball. Though this next completion was technically outside the hash marks, watch Edwards again fire the ball between two defenders, this time for six points:

Edwards’ timing and anticipation over the middle is something Wisconsin sorely missed under center last season with Braedyn Locke.

WHERE HE MUST IMPROVE

For the most part, the easy throws were easy with Edwards last season. Still, he had some unforgivable misses, perhaps none more egregious than this missed touchdown in the opener, where he short-arms his tight end who is all alone in the end zone a mere 15 yards away.

Edwards appears to try to float the ball, only to take too much off of the throw and botch what should’ve been one of the easiest touchdown passes of his life.

Occasionally, Edwards also made extremely ill-advised throws into coverage. On the next play against the Spartans, he’s completely oblivious to the boundary corner who cheats upfield and nearly picks him off:

Here’s another throw where he appears not to see the defensive back in the area before he releases the football. Northwestern is sitting in man coverage with two high safeties, something that should be relatively easy for the senior quarterback to identify. Still, he forces a throw to his X receiver, which results in an easy interception for the safety:

On the next play, a gotta-have-it 4th down against USC, Edwards simply doesn’t see a wide-open receiver in the end zone, which is especially curious because said receiver is Tai Felton, his go-to target in College Park who caught 96 passes last season. Instead, he floats a ball into double coverage, and you can guess the outcome.

Come for the horrible read by Edwards, and stay for the incredible interception by Trojans’ cornerback Jaylin Smith:

The good news for Edwards is that most of these issues appear to be mental. He’s not physically limited like Locke was a season ago. Still, you’d really prefer not to see some of these boneheaded decisions out of your senior quarterback.

WHERE HE’S INCONSISTENT

Edwards isn’t afraid to take the deep shot. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s great at it. Still, his accuracy on longer throws was surprisingly pinpoint at times in 2024. This throw against Michigan State is one of my favorite throws he made all season:

The corner is stride-for-stride, but Edwards puts the ball in the one place only Felton can make a play on it. An absolute dime, and he had some pressure in his face as well.

Now here’s a play that’s essentially the exact opposite. Against FCS Villanova, no less, Edwards completely air-mails Felton here. This wasn’t even close; the ball lands about seven or eight yards in front of the receiver, who is wide open up the seam:

The juxtaposition between Edwards’ best throws and his worst is pretty extreme.

Here’s another gorgeous throw on a go route, this time against an Indiana Hoosiers secondary that finished the season top-10 in passing defense:

The Hoosiers brought pressure, but Edwards liked his matchup on the outside and again put the ball where only his receiver could make a play on it.

The next play is a less extreme example of Edwards’ deep ball inconsistency. It’s somewhere between a perfect pass and a bad miss, and while this incompletion is partially on Edwards — the ball is a hair underthrown — he still gives his receiver a chance and a “perfect” pass here likely means a 50-yard rainbow into the breadbasket, something a select few college gunslingers can do on a whim.

YIKES, MARYLAND

It’s now time to address the elephant in the room: Maryland was not good at football last year. Two of its four wins came against UConn and Villanova, and the Terps lost seven of their last eight games down the stretch.

This team was hard to watch. Even sitting through Edwards’ tape and trying to focus mostly on the quarterback himself, it was painfully evident that his supporting cast was well below average in the Big Ten. Blown protection assignments, doomed screen passes, flat-out drops, you name it. This Maryland offense was largely dysfunctional.

Here’s another excellent throw against Indiana, except this time, his receiver appears to completely lose track of the ball mid-air and it falls harmlessly to the turf. This could’ve been a touchdown of about 58 yards:

That wasn’t the only potential touchdown pass Edwards was robbed of. Below, he unleashes a perfect back shoulder pass to the end zone. The official initially rules it a touchdown, and it’s hard to see from this angle, but somehow, his receiver couldn’t complete the catch and the call on the field was reversed:

That Indiana game was a rainy, sloppy affair, but these issues with his receivers popped up all season. Here’s another perfect throw to the back of the end zone, this time against Virginia, that Felton inexplicably fails to reel in:

If Edwards got even marginally better play from his receivers, his stat line would’ve looked a lot prettier.

SPIT TAKE PLAYS

Watching Edwards’ tape — and Maryland as a whole — is a somewhat laborious experience. Past the aforementioned blunders that plagued the Terps, they just weren’t competitive in the latter half of the season.

Edwards, specifically, didn’t offer too much pizazz. Maryland’s gameplans were littered with screens and quick passes, presumably to get Edwards in rhythm but also to hide some of the warts in the Terps’ drop-back passing game.

However, the gunslinger did make a handful of plays that I’ve deemed “spit take” worthy. Over the course of the relatively monotonous film review that went into this analysis, a few plays Edwards made jumped off the screen.

Below is one of the most impressive passes he made all season:

Felton runs a nice route from the slot here, getting himself open. Still, Edwards put the football in the exact cubic foot it needed to be on this throw. The ball is out of his hand before Felton turns around, and this play really displays the chemistry those two developed last fall.

When evaluating a college quarterback, “NFL throws” are always a talking point. That kind of high-level throw wasn’t a frequent occurrence in Edwards’ tape, but this toss on the run, a 25-yard strike between defenders, certainly qualifies:

Edwards has some ability to throw on the move and escape the pocket, neither of which could be attributed to Locke last season. Below is another excellent example. He escapes two free pass-rushers, courtesy of his left tackle and running back completely missing their blocks, and then finds an open receiver while scrambling to his non-dominant side:

For the most part, Edwards’ tape depicts an average Big Ten quarterback. He certainly had some eye-popping highlights, but some of his misses and poor decisions were tough to watch.

The good news with Edwards is in terms of stature and arm talent, he’s not limited physically. If he can clean up some of his mental mistakes, namely reading defensive backs and misfiring on some easy throws, there’s no reason why he couldn’t be an above-average gunslinger in the Big Ten, especially if he gets more help from his protection and his pass-catchers.

Edwards has some moxie to him. He can make checks at the line of scrimmage. He can put the ball on a rope over the middle. He can escape pressure and improvise a little. When he’s feeling his deep ball, he can drop a dime.

He also has a tendency to force some throws when they’re not there, particularly against good man coverage. He sometimes lets mistakes compound, resulting in some ill-fated hero ball.

In 2024, Maryland’s offense averaged just 110 rushing yards per-game and 3.6 yards-per-carry. If the new offensive coordinator in Madison, Jeff Grimes, can spark the Badgers’ ground game and take some pressure off the quarterback, Edwards could be in for a very effective — if not dazzling — season. If Wisconsin’s offense continues to sputter and dig itself into holes, relying on the signal-caller to deftly carve up the opposing secondary, Edwards’ inconsistency and mental mistakes could rear their ugly head once again.

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