The Case for Tyler Van Dyke Succeeding in the Badgers Offense

Wisconsin is counting on a bounce-back season from Tyler Van Dyke.

The 2024 season for Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football program will be a big one for his staff, but the one player who will dictate the Badgers' ceiling this fall is Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke.

By now, you know the story. Van Dyke was a former four-star recruit and set the ACC on fire as a redshirt freshman in 2021. Van Dyke threw for 2,931 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while averaging 9.0 yards per attempt and won conference Rookie of the Year honors.

Since then, it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Van Dyke. He had three different offensive coordinators in four seasons and never quite re-captured the magic that had NFL scouts seeing first-round potential.

Van Dyke leaves Miami with a 15-13 career record as a starter, having thrown for 7,469 passing yards, along with 54 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, with a career completion rate of 63.7%. 

However, it's worth acknowledging that Van Dyke was benched twice, battled some injuries, and had plenty of peaks and valleys that led to this fresh start. 

With that in mind, let's dive into why I think Wisconsin Badgers fans should be optimistic about Van Dyke stepping in as the QB1 in 2024.

TVD fits Phil Longo's offensive system like a glove

Listen, we all thought that Phil Longo becoming the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin would lead to instant success, and to be blunt, it didn't.