The Wisconsin Badgers made a change at quarterback after starting third-string quarterback Hunter Simmons against the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines at the Big House this past weekend.
Wisconsin had a strong first drive, scoring a touchdown, but the offense teetered from there, with the Badgers scoring three points the rest of the way. Simmons ended with 177 passing yards and an interception, while completing 62.1 percent of his passes.
In the first half, Wisconsin tried to establish its run game, which
didn’t work out after the first drive, putting them in second and third & longs. Then, when trailing by two scores, they started to let things fly in the passing game, with Simmons having some nice throws, but also having an interception on an underthrown ball to Chris Brooks Jr.
Ultimately, it was a quality enough performance for a quarterback making his first start with the team, with lots to build off of. But, is that the direction Wisconsin is expecting to go at quarterback moving forward?
“That’s what I would say,” head coach Luke Fickell said. “Again, there’ll be a plan both ways. I think Danny had only three snaps in the game, but Hunter has done a good job. He will continue to get some more opportunities.
“Danny will have some opportunities as well, and we’ll have to see how that goes. But I did, even after watching it, I thought what we asked Hunter to do, he played with poise. He did the things we asked him to do. He took care of the football for the most part, you know, and so I think we can definitely build on that and go with him in different ways.”
What does Simmons bring to the table that intrigues the coaching staff?
“I think the nature of what Hunter does bring is, he does have a quick release,” Fickell continued. “He does have a bit of a stronger arm. I think he’s got a [really] good arm. And so I think there’s some things that suit well to him well, and his style a little bit better. And I think those are some of the things he saw us try to do.
“Now, we just got to be able to build off of that, but he is a well-rounded guy. I mean, it’s not that he doesn’t have some athleticism. It’s not that he doesn’t have the ability to run the football. As you get into some of these things, obviously, it’s a little bit tougher sometimes when you get limited in the number of quarterbacks you have. So you have to be careful in the situation that you put them into. And last week in particular, it was a very, very aggressive front. It was some really dynamic edges. So obviously, he had to prepare in our own way for that. But, you just got to kind of figure those things each and every week, what guys strengths are. We’re going to continue to build those things, and now we’ve got to ask him to probably do a little bit more.”
Against Michigan, Wisconsin waited too long to test the passing game when the Wolverines clearly didn’t have much respect for the Badgers in the air. During a string of seven straight punts, the Badgers ran the ball on first down seven times, gaining only 13 yards, while passing the ball only three times, completing two of those for 23 yards.
Getting a minimal gain on first down almost instantly kills a drive for this team, which has struggled to generate explosives of any kind. But, Simmons showed he could take advantage of some 1-on-1 matchups on the boundary. Wisconsin now just has to give him some opportunities to let it rip when they have those matchups.
