Spring ball is officially over for the Wisconsin Badgers, who held their 15th and final practice on Wednesday, capping off an eventful month where we got to see an early look at Wisconsin’s new-look team.
Of course, all eyes were on the quarterbacks, as Wisconsin brought in three new faces to lead the room in 2026: Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph, Louisville transfer Deuce Adams, and true freshman Ryan Hopkins.
Those three stood out the most for Wisconsin this spring, with Joseph taking over as
QB1 after being Wisconsin’s top transfer target this offseason. Adams also compiled a couple of pretty good days, showcasing his arm talent, while Hopkins was one of the biggest risers, regardless of position, getting a ton of reps with both backup groups.
With a ton of new faces, where did Wisconsin’s quarterback room grow the most this spring?
“I think just understanding the offense,” head coach Luke Fickell said of his quarterback room. “I think as a whole, the offense, I think with Coach [Jeff] Grimes, even Coach [Kenny] Guiton and those guys, I think each year you have quarterbacks, and as you saw towards the end of the year, you got to do what your quarterbacks can do.
“And, you know, last year, even spring was different than this year, and that’s not just because of the growth of the quarterbacks, but also saying, okay, hey, what are they going to be best doing? What are we going to give them an opportunity to continue to grow, to understand, but not be, hey, let’s make it all about scheme. So I think twofold, they grew a lot in recognizing and understanding the offense. I think we even grew offensively and understand and recognize where those guys are going to be most comfortable. Not that they don’t have to grow, but where are they going to be most comfortable so that we can have better executions even through spring as we go into fall camp as well.
“So I think it’s a balance of asking both for all those guys in that room to grow and recognize what it is that we do. Cause this is how we go about playing our game offensively, but also for us offensively to say, okay, now we know there’s a lot on these guys’ plates. What do we have to do to make sure that we’re kind of formulating a little bit more of the offense around what it is that they do and what it is that they can handle?”
As Wisconsin incorporated its quarterbacks into the fold, we saw them all get more comfortable in the pocket, but also showcase their skills as dual-threat options, both on play-actions and with scrambles. Now, there’s still some growth that group will have to have over the summer, but the Badgers will look quite different in that room than a year ago with the direction of the offense.
