Spring football allows for head coach Paul Chryst to not have to worry about preparing for a game. Instead, it allows him to teach the game of football and continue to develop the players on Wisconsin’s roster as they prepare for the 2020 season. Chryst will have 15 practices beginning March 10th to help make sure his team is improving and building off of what they accomplished during the 2019 season.
In this Badgers Wire feature, we will break down the quarterback position for Wisconsin as they head into spring practice.
Spring Quarterback Roster
Jack Coan, Graham Mertz, Chase Wolf, Danny Vanden Boom
What we know going into spring practice
At this time a season ago, there was the question of who would be the starter for Wisconsin when they opened the season against South Florida. As spring practice would serve as the first opportunity of the four quarterbacks on the roster to try and compete for reps with the first-team offense.
Ultimately Jack Coan won the starting position as Chase Wolf and Graham Mertz served as co-backups throughout last season as they appeared in three and two games respectively a season ago.
Coan’s play over the course of the 2019 season should solidify himself as the starter again as he goes into his senior season. Coan will receive the bulk of the first-team reps as it will be important for him to grow from what he accomplished as a junior.
In particular, for Coan, one of the main focuses will be working on the deep ball. Although Coan brought stability to the quarterback position a season ago the Badgers struggled to consistently stretch the field.
Spring football will be the perfect time for Coan to try and improve in this area as he’ll be able to test out his arm strength and be able to experiment with his deep throws.
What we hope to find out following spring practice
Wisconsin’s quarterback room was the strongest it has been in some time as it will be interesting to see how much improvement has been made from all four quarterbacks since the end of last spring.
Coan will get a good deal of reps over spring practice but Wolf and Mertz will also receive reps with the first team too.
Wolf and Mertz both have strong arms as it will be a chance for them to continue to work on their mechanics and continue to progress at the quarterback position.
Mertz came in with a lot of hype last season and not surprising he was up and down at the quarterback position over his first spring practice. With him being on campus for a year now the inconsistency he may have demonstrated should be improved as nothing should be new to him anymore. He should be more comfortable with the playbook and with his dropbacks as he goes through his reads.
Wolf like Mertz needs to become more consistent but with him also going through his second spring practice he should be able to take the next step in his development.
One area where Wolf has been held back is his decision making. At times he hasn’t placed the football where only his intended target can get it. In order for Wolf to push to be Coan’s top backup, he needs to improve his decision making so he doesn’t hurt Wisconsin’s offense.
Spring football will allow him to test out certain throws from different angles, which he has shown he’s capable of doing but he also needs to learn quickly which throws work for him and which ones he shouldn’t attempt.
Each quarterback on Wisconsin’s spring roster will continue to push one another in order to get better each day. Although all four are fighting for playing time they know spring practice is a time for all of them to improve as quarterbacks. Making it important they make each rep they receive count.