Redshirt freshman Graham Mertz stepped into an empty Camp Randall stadium on Friday night with the weight of sky high expectations crash landing on his shoulders. It also wasn’t scheduled to happen this way. When Wisconsin’s senior leader Jack Coan went down in practice with a non-contact foot injury just weeks before the season was set to begin, Mertz was thrown into the deep end. Not to mention that this was the third Big Ten start date we have had in as many months. None of this was normal, and nothing all year has been, except the play of Mertz.
The 45-7 Wisconsin masterclass over Illinois put on by the “Kansas Kannon” was a Garrett Groshek drop away, that Mertz claimed was “on him” during his postgame interview, from perfection. Slinging five touchdowns to four different receivers, completing a program record 17 consecutive passes to begin his career as a starter, and a 53-yard bomb to Danny Davis before halftime was all part of the Mertz mania experience. In what Big Ten universe is that considered normal? Those would be shocking norms for almost any QB in the nation, but it never felt as if Mertz, and those closest to him, expected anything but excellence.
This didn’t feel like a superhuman performance. It didn’t feel like some out of body, spiritual experience that cannot be repeated. Instead it felt like Mertz woke up, brushed his teeth, grabbed his briefcase and a cup of coffee and went to the office as he would any other day. This is just who he is and who he has always been.
“I thought that he had good poise and that he saw the field well,” said Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst when speaking about his young signal caller. “You never know quite how someone is gonna react in his first start but I thought he was himself.”
Mertz brought something that felt different, and even if we couldn’t be there to see it in person it made its way into our living rooms. He brought a little swag with him to Madtown.
“We talk about it all week just playing with swag,” said Mertz after the dominant win. “I was happy how we played with that little extra chip on our shoulder and that swag.”
For most of Mertz’s 20 completions, nothing would blow you away. He meticulously picked apart Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 defense with short, accurate throws that kept drives chugging forward. Before the halftime whistle blew, we also saw the arm talent that made Mertz a four-star recruit who had the likes of LSU, Alabama, and Ohio State knocking down his door like political canvassers in October of an election year. With less than a minute to go in the first half, the Kansas native dialed up a 53-yard hookup with Danny Davis for a score that all but put the game out of reach. It was a play, and an overall performance that you do not see often from a Wisconsin Badgers quarterback. In the process, Mertz matched the Wisconsin single-game touchdown record with five scores, had the best completion percentage ever by a UW QB in their starting debut (95.2%), and completed his first 17 passes to tie another Badger record. Pretty normal.
You would have never known any records were being broken based on the stoic, experienced energy that the redshirt freshman brought to the Camp Randall turf and to the sidelines. Even during the rare moments where things weren’t going perfectly for Wisconsin, such as following a second quarter Jake Ferguson fumble that was returned for the lone Illinois touchdown of the night, Mertz acted like he had been there before. Ferguson was most impressed by how Wisconsin’s signal caller picked him up following one of his only low points. “Its the way he responds to adversity,” the Badgers TE told media when asked what he saw in the young QB. “After my fumble, he came back to me and said ‘let’s get it.’ He’s kinda taken that role as a leader and he played his heart out.”
Mertz put words into actions following his encounter with Ferguson on the sideline, going right back to his big TE target for what ended up being career-highs with three touchdowns and seven receptions.
As true leaders do, Mertz took the praise off of himself and elevated his teammates and coaches, while mentioning there was room for improvement. “We had a great week of prep,” said the Badger QB after his first start. “I owe it to coach Budmayr and coach Chryst. We took a ton of time in one-on-one meetings and just really sorted the game plan out. We knew what we were doing and I felt confident in my ability to go execute. I think there’s definitely some stuff that we need to clean up.”
Last night’s performance was not when Wisconsin’s coaching staff noticed that Mertz was different. Quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr offered the Kansas gunslinger before his junior year in high school began, and before he had every made a start at the high school level. After a visit to Madison in September of 2017 and a state championship season at Blue Valley North High School, Mertz shut down his recruitment and became a Badger. As is the nature of recruiting in the modern era, the future Badger still received daily attention from every major program you could possibly think of and then some. He stayed true to Wisconsin and it all paid off on October 23, 2020 for both parties.
Years from now, hopefully we look back on October 23, 2020 as a “where were you when” moment. It’s only one football game, and even though nobody will be able to say “I was there,” it still felt like the start of an era that takes Wisconsin football to new heights. You can call him the “Kansas Kannon,” “Golden Graham,” “Kansas Jesus,” or anything in between. Wisconsin football is lucky to call him “QB1” for the next few years.