Wisconsin football tight end Tanner Koziol plans to re-enter NCAA transfer portal

Wisconsin football tight end Tanner Koziol intends to enter the transfer portal before ever playing a snap, marking a significant loss for the new-look Badgers offense.

When the University of Wisconsin football program landed Tanner Koziol out of the transfer portal, it felt like a needle-moving off-season addition for a Badgers offense in desperate need of reinforcements.

"It was the people—all the people really made it feel like home," Koziol said after his commitment. "It's close to home. Growing up in the Midwest, the Big Ten has always been a dream. The coaching staff made it feel like a good situation."

Now? That chapter is over before it ever really began.

Colten Bartholomew of BadgerExtra reported that Koziol is no longer with the program and plans to enter the transfer portal, ending his brief stint with the Badgers—news that's been echoed by a source familiar with the situation.

The 6-foot-6, 257-pound tight end joined Wisconsin this offseason from Ball State with high expectations and an All-MAC resume — but will now look to continue his college football career elsewhere.

It’s a surprising turn, even if the writing had been on the wall.

Koziol hadn’t participated in full-team drills throughout the majority of spring and was reportedly dealing with injuries—at one point returning home, which added fuel to the speculation about his future.

When asked about his status, head coach Luke Fickell offered a vague response: “Tanner has been dinged up and is going through a few things right now, so I don’t know what’s exactly going on.”

That quote now reads like a breadcrumb.

Behind the scenes, there had been mounting tension between Koziol and the coaching staff, according to sources.

His public profile on the Wisconsin Badgers team website and social media handles had been quietly stripped down to minimal details, foreshadowing the two parties going their separate ways.

His absence from team drills—and even the broader day-to-day of spring football practice—only intensified the questions about where things were headed.

Now it’s confirmed. And for Wisconsin, it’s a notable loss they’ll need to address.

Koziol arrived in Madison as one of the more coveted tight ends in the portal. A native of Bloomingdale, Illinois, he caught 94 passes for 839 yards and eight touchdowns last season at Ball State, earning second-team All-MAC honors.

Over three years with the Cardinals, the former two-star recruit racked up 163 catches, 1,607 yards receiving, and 18 touchdowns — establishing himself as one of the most productive pass-catching tight ends in the entire country.

Per Pro Football Focus, Koziol posted a 89.0 offensive grade and earned an elite 90.4 rating as a receiver last season. He also added solid marks as both a run and pass blocker — traits that made him an ideal fit in offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes’ 11 and 12 personnel-heavy system.

That’s what made his transfer to Wisconsin so significant in the first place.

The Badgers tight end room struggled in 2024. Returning contributors Tucker Ashcraft, JT Seagraves, and Jackson McGohan combined for just 17 receptions and 128 yards last season. Plus, starter Riley Nowakowski transferred out.

Koziol, on paper, was supposed to be the Badgers solution — a plug-and-play pass-catching weapon who could work the middle of the field and offer a reliable target for quarterback Billy Edwards Jr.

Instead, he’ll leave town without playing a single snap for the program.

In Koziol’s absence, Ashcraft has re-emerged as the No. 1 tight end during spring practice. Seagraves and redshirt freshman Grant Stec have both seen more reps with the first and second teams. Behind them, converted tailback Jackson Acker has also contributed as a run blocker in heavier personnel packages.

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The silver lining? Wisconsin’s system still leans heavily on the tight end, and the group is getting meaningful reps this spring to build depth. But there’s no doubt that losing a proven option like Koziol resets expectations for the room — both in terms of playmaking ability and talent.

That matters in a Grimes-led offense.

“That position is one of the most difficult positions to just to learn in this offense,” Grimes explained, “but also to just get to the point where they’re able to excel at their jobs. And it’s for two reasons—one, the different things that we ask them to do—they’re lining up all over the place. So, they have to know where to line up just like any receiver or running back would, as well as your traditional TE alignments.

“And then their job responsibilities are larger. The volume of skills that we’re asking from them is high. They’ve got to be able to run block like an offensive tackle. They’ve also got to be able to run block like a receiver does—which is an undervalued thing. Then they’ve got to be able to pass protect, particularly in the play-action game. And then they’ve got to be able to hopefully run routes like a receiver would when we extend them out."

For the Badgers, the portal has played a major role in reshaping the roster under Fickell. And with Koziol’s departure—plus Robert Booker stepping away from football due to a medical retirement—TE could again be a position this staff needs to address in the Spring transfer window.

While I can acknowledge there were some circumstances outside of his control in Year 1, this position group hasn’t produced in either season under Nate Letton—and from where I sit, it’s hard to imagine that changing unless the coaching staff brings in someone capable of playing meaningful snaps right away for Wisconsin this fall.

If Ashcraft is your No. 2 tight end, I think you can feel pretty good about that. But if he’s penciled in as your starter? There’s reason for pause. He’s caught just 20 passes for 168 yards and two scores across 612 career snaps. To me, you need to bring in real competition and make Ashcraft earn that role—you can’t just run it back and hope for different results.

This is part of the portal era: things change fast.

But for a team trying to bounce back from a 5–7 season and install a new offense in the process, losing a projected starter at a key position stings. Especially one that felt like such a natural fit when Koziol arrived.

Koziol’s next move remains to be seen — but his time at Wisconsin is over, and now the Badgers have a glaring hole to fill.

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