Wisconsin Football Quarterback Room’s Post Spring Outlook

Wrapping up our Wisconsin football spring analysis and looking ahead to fall camp, let’s end where it all begins: with the Badgers quarterbacks. 

How does the QB lineup shape up as we transition from spring to fall camp? To begin our evaluation, let’s start with the bottom end of the Badgers depth chart and work our way toward the top. 

Cole LaCrue is once again recovering from an injury in what seems to be a recurring theme. Don’t expect much from him because I’m expecting that he will still be recovering come fall camp. 

Unfortunately, when you have injuries piling up, you might be left behind by the time you get healthy. If LaCrue misses more significant time this year, with Landyn Locke coming in next year, his best chance of winning a Heisman long-term might come at the D2 level (Harland Hill Trophy). My apologies to the Cole LaCrue 4 Heisman Club.

With the departure of Nick Evers from the Wisconsin football QB room, Mabrey Mettauer has been getting all of the number three reps. 

Mettauer earned some of the number three reps even before that and solidified the number three job with Evers leaving. He even got some reps with the two’s as well. 

He’s got a lot to learn in what it takes to be a college quarterback, but I think he can use Evers as an example of what not to do to earn a chance to move up the depth chart and how to be a college quarterback. 

So, Mettauer’s future is bright. He’ll be an emergency quarterback this year, in the position to redshirt, and could push for playing time as a redshirt freshman next year. He’s earned the number three job, that’s for sure.

And now we get to the Wisconsin football team’s one and two. 

As I’ve expected since the day he was announced as a transfer, I think Tyler Van Dyke has finally separated himself and has positioned himself to be the starter going into fall camp. 

Again, the myth of the quarterback competition this spring. Of course, Braedyn Locke wants to be the starter. Locke played last year, earned playing time, and earned the number two job last year. He performed admirably when he needed to play. Locke’s competing to play, but as the spring has gone on and as Van Dyke has gotten more and more comfortable with the system, making his role more apparent. 

Van Dyke, on the other hand, stacked good practice upon good practice at the end of the season and, in my opinion, has solidified the starting spot going into fall camp. The “competition” did its job. It showed TVD that he had to work to earn the job. It solidified Locke as a leader for this Wisconsin football team for the years to come. Competition brings the best out of everyone, even if the outcome is set.

So, where does that really leave Locke? He has worked hard; I think he’s going to be a valuable number-two quarterback this season. I think he’s going to be a strong candidate to be the starter next year, and if he wins the starting job next year, he’s got the starting job locked up for the next two years after that. 

He’s a solid player and a big bowl of OK. Unfortunately for Locke, everything he does, Van Dyke does a little bit better. Van Dyke is bigger, stronger, and more athletic than a traditional pro-style quarterback. 

With Evers no longer in the fold, could we see them bring in a transfer so they can get their numbers back up to five scholarship QBs going into fall camp? 

The possibility is there, but as I said in my transfer targets video, I think at this point, they would be bringing in a transfer quarterback who could be an emergency guy but has positional value in other places, whether it be on special teams or as a gadget guy. Otherwise, there are four scholarship players and a walk-on for a grand total of five for practice. 

With transfer priorities and a limited number of spaces available, I think Phil Longo is going to roll with the group he has…but you never know.

So that’s the quarterbacks, and that concludes our look at the Wisconsin football offense post-spring. On purpose, I did not mention very many of the incoming freshmen. They were not part of spring ball, and I don’t want to speculate on players whom I’ve never seen on a college football field. 

In this new era of college football, the ability to enroll early is going an important factor. With more and more roster turnover every year it’s going to be important to show what you can do both on the football field and in the classroom early because you never know when the person ahead of you is going to transfer out or you’re going to be transferred over.

Wisconsin football fall camp is only, what, three months away? What are we going to talk about until then? Once I figure that out, you will surely be the first to know with fresh content, as even though we are in the true off-season of college football, the sport never sleeps!

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