Wisconsin Football Lands Miami Transfer Portal QB Tyler Van Dyke

Wisconsin football has earned a commitment in the 30-day transfer window as Miami Hurricanes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke announced his pledge to the Badgers and head coach Luke Fickell on Tuesday afternoon. 

Van Dyke comes to Madison with 32 games worth of experience, 28 of which were starts. During his tenure with the Hurricanes, the redshirt junior amassed 7,469 passing yards, along with 54 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, maintaining a career completion rate of 63.7%. It’s also worth noting that Van Dyke has 11 career games with 300+ passing yards. 

According to Pro Football Focus, he has completed 61 BTT, which is a pass with excellent ball location and timing — generally thrown down the field and/or into a tight window while averaging 8.2 yards per attempt. 

#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/sCV3VjUUiJ

— Tyler Van Dyke (@Tyler_Van_Dyke) December 12, 2023

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound quarterback entered the portal as a graduate transfer and will join the Wisconsin Badgers with one year of eligibility. 

Wisconsin Football Lands Miami Transfer Portal QB Tyler Van Dyke.

For the second straight offseason, Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football program have added an experienced signal-caller from the transfer portal to fortify its quarterback room.

Tyler Van Dyke broke onto the scene for Miami as a redshirt freshman in 2021, throwing for 2,931 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while averaging 9.0 yards per attempt. He also completed 25 big-time throws en route to ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year.

However, Van Dyke lost his offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, heading into 2021, who left to take the head coaching job at SMU.

His stock took a hit as a redshirt sophomore, throwing for 1,844 yards with 10 touchdowns, 13 big-time throws, and five interceptions. Josh Gattis, the offensive coordinator brought in to replace Lashlee, was fired after one season with Miami.

Under his third offensive coordinator in as many years, the Connecticut native bounced back in 2023, amassing 2,703 yards with 19 touchdowns, 23 big-time throws, and 12 INTs.

The Wisconsin football team will now lean on Van Dyke to lead the Badgers offense in 2024 and provide young players like Braedyn Locke, Nick Evers, Cole LaCrue, and Mabrey Mettauer more time to develop.

Reasons to Be Optimistic About Van Dyke’s Fit With the Badgers

Let’s cut to the chase; Tyler Van Dyke is the Wisconsin football program’s unquestioned starting quarterback entering 2024. 

Although Van Dyke isn’t the dual-threat option that many people were clamoring for to orchestrate Phil Longo’s spread offense, there’s a lot to like about what Van Dyke brings to the table. 

The combination of Tanner Mordecai and Braedyn Locke combined to throw for 2,483 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions this past season, so there’s reason to believe he could represent an upgrade at QB. 

With a history of success pushing the ball downfield against Power 5 teams, Van Dyke got the ball out of his hand in 2.64 seconds on average, which is quicker than both Mordecai (3.06) and Locke (2.74). 

He’s also improved tremendously in navigating the pocket and escaping pressure. In the last three seasons, Van Dyke has improved his pressure-to-sack percentage from a concerning 28% as a redshirt freshman to 15.6% the next year and a career-best 11.9% this past season, per PFF. 

For reference, Mordecai and Locke finished 16.2% and 18.4% for the Wisconsin football team this past season, respectively. So the data suggests that Van Dyke gets the ball out quicker and has been better at escaping the pocket than the Badgers signal callers were in 2023. 

Mordecai was undoubtedly a better intermediate field thrower, but Van Dyke has the potential to open up the Badgers offense downfield, where PFF gave him an elite grade (93.3) on throws of 20+ yards downfield. 

The former Miami quarterback has an NFL arm, played in a similar system, and has played against a high level of competition, which could help make his transition somewhat seamless. Van Dyke is also known for being a fast processor and moving through his reads quickly, and he has enough arm talent to fit throws into tight windows. He is, however, more careless with the ball and can force throws rather than take a check down.  

Regardless, I like this pickup for Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football team, who needed a veteran option to lead the Badgers next season. Now, we’ll have to wait and see if he can help unlock the elements of the air raid offense that were missing in year one. 

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