Four former Wisconsin quarterbacks will start elsewhere in 2024

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Phil Longo have discussed building a ‘quarterback factory’ at Wisconsin.

That ‘factory’ would include a strong high school recruiting pipeline at the position, star players at the college level and an increased level of professional-caliber players.

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It’s early, Fickell and Longo are only entering their second season at the helm. But it’s safe to say Badgers fans are still waiting for results in the ‘quarterback factory’ department.

Of course, Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke is expected to be the first in the line of strong play at the position. Former SMU transfer Tanner Mordecai was expected to be that in 2023, but an injury and inconsistent play made that not the case.

Wisconsin’s method of taking one-year transfers while building up its high school recruiting base will need a further deep-dive after the season. An initial thought is the high school recruiting results have not been impressive at the position. But it’s reasonable to counter that better on-field results with Van Dyke in 2024 will help that cause.

Along these lines, it’s worth mentioning that four former Wisconsin quarterbacks are set to start elsewhere in 2024. Graham Mertz at Florida, Nick Evers at UConn, Deacon Hill at Utah Tech and Myles Burkett at Albany.

All three will do so under different circumstances. Mertz transferred to Florida after the 2022 season, Hill also left during the coaching transition, Evers left for UConn this spring after getting buried on the depth chart and Burkett recognized his chance to start would be at a lower level.

None of these four are indictments on Wisconsin’s vision at the position, except maybe Evers who was a blue-chip transfer addition by Fickell and Longo during the 2022 offseason.

But having numerous former players starting at quarterback at other schools will hopefully not be the case moving forward. Wisconsin is working to create a pipeline of high school recruiting to the field in Madison, not to the field elsewhere.

Again, Evers, Hill and Burkett were never in line to start for the Badgers. And Mertz’s transfer made sense given the circumstances. Wisconsin is likely in better shape with Van Dyke under center than any of the four teams listed.

Still, it would be better for the Badgers long-term to not have a large collection of players starting elsewhere.

It will be interesting to watch how all four perform in 2024, how Van Dyke does in his one year with the Badgers and what Wisconsin does recruiting at the position moving forward.

This will be a topic that we revisit during the offseason.