When the transfer portal opened, the Wisconsin Badgers quickly targeted Old Dominion transfer quarterback Colton Joseph as their top target, getting him in on a visit and securing a commitment shortly after.
Joseph was the clear top target for the Badgers, which made sense given his dual-threat ability and multiple years of eligibility remaining to provide stability in the quarterback room. But it was a huge pool of quarterbacks in the transfer portal.
What led Joseph to be the guy for the Badgers
in the portal?
“Well, I think it’s come down to leadership, obviously,” head coach Luke Fickell said about Joseph. “Just like he did his homework on us, we did our homework on him and tried to get as many guys that knew him or played with him or been around him to tell us more about him. It’s easy to press play and watch every game from last year. It’s easy to see the stats. But there was some uniqueness that said, ‘hey, there’s just a connection here,’ as you begin to talk with him, to do some of the Zoom calls with Coach [Kenny] Guiton and then and then Coach [Jeff] Grimes and their ability to visit with him long hours doing Zooms, talking about offense, seeing where his knowledge of the game is.
“I mean, there’s a lot more things that go into this than just pressing play and recognizing the abilities he had last year. As he led his team, there was a lot more things. To be honest with you, there’s a lot we don’t know. That’s what’s exciting about this. But the things we do know is he fits us. Us meaning he understands what a team looks like. He understands his role as a quarterback isn’t just to distribute the ball. His role as a quarterback is to lead not just an offense, but a program as well. And it’s one of those things that he embraces.
“And obviously, it was something that he really wanted to be able to do wherever he was. And so to me, to see that and understand that and recognize that on top of all the other attributes and the things that he has to play the quarterback position. And we felt like, after a long time of doing this, that he was our 1A, and obviously, we had to continue to recruit others just in case, because everybody has a choice. But he was definitely the guy that we had pinpointed for quite a while, that this is the guy we would want to be able to bring in here and lead our program.”
Joseph was linked to many programs after entering the transfer portal, but only the Badgers put on a full-court press for him, which clearly made a difference in the process. Now, they’re hoping to improve an offense that ranked in the bottom five in the FBS last year with Joseph and his dual-threat ability at the helm.
