How Wisconsin Football QB Nick Evers Has Grown His Game

Knowledge equals reps. That’s why Oklahoma transfer Nick Evers didn’t factor into the Wisconsin football team’s plans at quarterback this past season under first-year offensive coordinator Phil Longo. 

From a recruiting rankings standpoint, Evers would have been the Badgers’ second-highest-rated QB commit in program history had he joined the team out of high school. But he spent most of his first season serving as the team’s No. 4 quarterback on the depth chart. 

Redshirt freshman Braedyn Locke established himself as the No. 2 quarterback behind Tanner Mordecai during spring practice, and the pecking order stayed the same throughout the season. 

Longo made it clear that Evers, who is UW’s most physically gifted quarterback, needed to understand the passing game better from a protection standpoint, along with a few other nuances of the scheme, before he would begin earning more reps.

With Wisconsin football becoming bowl-eligible, the Badgers gained additional practice time, allowing its younger players to earn valuable reps they wouldn’t otherwise get during the season. Evers included. 

Wisconsin Football OC Phil Longo Shares How Nick Evers Has Grown His Game 

Wisconsin football offensive coordinator Phil Longo spoke to reporters for the first time since October after bowl practice and was asked about the progress of redshirt freshman QB Nick Evers since spring ball.

“All of it, really,” Longo said. “He’s [Evers] obviously an athlete, and he’s been an athlete since the day he got here. He can sling the ball. We wanted him to work on accuracy, the intermediate stuff, the quick stuff, the deep stuff, and those are things that, when we get to technique and rep, he’s gotten better at.”

The Badgers will graduate starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai after the ReliaQuest Bowl, setting the stage for a competition to replace him that will begin in spring practice and end in fall camp.

The early front-runner to take over as QB1 is Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke, who joins the program with one year of eligibility remaining. But Braedyn Locke and Evers are also expected to push him for said role.

If Evers is going to take a substantial jump on the depth chart between now and the beginning of spring, Longo laid out a few other areas he’s working on that will help make him a more complete signal caller.

“We want to clean up techniques, so we’re still working on that,” Longo told reporters. “And then it’s a forever improving process mentally. I would say that he [Evers] is much further along right now than he was in the spring, so progress is good with him so far.”

Wisconsin football will also have Cole LaCrue and incoming freshman Mabrey Mettauer in the quarterback room, who will vie for time.

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