Luke Fickell Drops Major Hint About Who Will Win Wisconsin's QB Battle
It sounds like Luke Fickell is HEAVILY leaning one way in Wisconsin's QB battle.
The Badgers have one of the most interesting QB battles in the country between Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke and redshirt sophomore Braedyn Locke.
Locke saw significant playing time when Wisconsin QB Tanner Mordecai went down with an injury, and is familiar with the system Phil Longo and Fickell run. On the other hand, Van Dyke has a ton of starting experience from his time with the Hurricanes, and transferred to Wisconsin looking for a fresh start.
The two battled it out in the spring, and early indications were Locke was giving Van Dyke all he could handle. While he put up a solid performance in spring, it sounds like it's Van Dyke's job to lose.
Will Tyler Van Dyke start at QB for the Wisconsin Badgers? (Mark Stewart / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Luke Fickell hints Tyler Van Dyke will win QB battle.
"There will be [a QB competition]. There was an open competition in spring. We'll do the same thing going into fall camp, but there's an expectation that Tyler is continuing to grow and rise and has an opportunity to hopefully kind of win it on the field. That's not saying that Braedyn didn't do a really good job last year even in his opportunities. It's still going to be a really competitive situation," Fickell said during a recent interview with Jim Rome, according to SI.com.
This is the part of that quote that is without question the clearest hint yet that Fickell is pulling for Van Dyke to win the job:
there's an expectation that Tyler is continuing to grow and rise and has an opportunity to hopefully kind of win it on the field
That's about as clear as it can get. After months of being coy and not tipping his hand, it now seems like Fickell is ready to move forward with the belief Van Dyke will be QB1 when week one rolls around.
A lot of reporting from spring indicated Locke was playing at a higher and more consistent level. However, Van Dyke might have just needed more time to adjust to what Longo and Fickell were throwing at him. There is no question he's more experienced than Locke by a considerable margin.
Below are their stats:
- Tyler Van Dyke: 7,469 passing yards, 54 passing touchdowns and 23 interceptions in 32 appearances.
- Braedyn Locke: 777 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one interception in 5 appearances.
I can't say I'm surprised by Fickell's comments. In fact, it was surprising when Locke appeared to be doing much better in camp. After all, Van Dyke was brought in so that he could play - not ride the bench. Now, it appears he's nearing locking up the QB1 role, and will likely do so in the fall. Fans definitely can't wait to see what he brings to the field for the Badgers. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.