Luke Fickell enters his third full season as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers this year and it’s his third season straight starting with a transfer quarterback.
Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke held the Badgers’ starting spot last year after SMU transfer Tanner Mordecai in 2023. Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. joined the Badgers this season from another Big Ten program — the senior spent three seasons on the Maryland Terrapins’ roster.
Edwards Jr. is the first of Fickell’s three transfer QBs to join the Badgers from within the conference, but Fickell doesn’t think it makes much of a difference.
“No, I don't think it does change the dynamic,” Fickell said in a press conference Monday. “First and foremost the most unique thing is the third year with a transfer quarterback in particular, a guy that's one year. So that has made it a challenge.”
The head coach said Badgers’ staff knew a bit more about Edwards Jr. ahead of his transfer, compared to Van Dyke and Mordecai.
“To be honest with you, I think I knew as much about Tanner Mordecai in year one as anybody just playing against him for a few years. Didn't know as much about Tyler Van Dyke last year,” Fickell said. “I'd say we knew a lot about Billy, but didn't, because we didn't play him, so didn't actually see him face to face.”
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Though Fickell doesn’t think there’s extra familiarity due to Edwards Jr.’s Big Ten background, he acknowledged it could give the quarterback — and program — a small boost.
“I do think that it obviously gives him, not say, some credibility, but a leg up, understanding [of] how this league works, and how how tough it is, how you know how hard it is on the road and different things like that, that I think will bode well, not only for him, but for us as we go through the season,” Fickell said.