Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Billy Edwards made his well-anticipated return from a knee injury against the Maryland Terrapins, but that was short-lived as the senior played just one drive before sitting out the remainder of the 27-10.
Edwards had been pushing to play, but clearly didn’t look himself and was limping after scrambling out of the pocket on a dropback, prompting sophomore Danny O’Neil to enter the game in the first quarter.
After the game two weekends ago, head coach Luke Fickell said
the plan was to have both quarterbacks ready and that the team felt comfortable with the game plan for Edwards.
“You never know exactly what he can do well, and what he can feel comfortable with. The plan was to use Danny in some situations, but to have them both ready,” Fickell said. “Billy took a lot of the snaps this week. We felt pretty comfortable with the things that we were going to ask him to do. But, I don’t know that he had been hit, and had to go full go. That was what worried you a little bit. Unfortunately, it looked like a thing that maybe he just stepped a little bit wrong. He wasn’t able to come back, and that was difficult on us.”
However, speaking with reporters on Monday after the team’s bye week, Fickell’s tone changed, taking more responsibility for rushing Edwards back into action.
“Yeah, it’s probably the thing that lingers as much as anything,” Fickell said about the decision-making to play Edwards. “Even in the situations we’ve been in the last two years, you knew where you were, right? Okay, a guy’s out for five weeks after surgery, a guy’s out for the year. The hardest thing is, there’s a lingering like, ‘how long does this last? What’s best?’
“Trying to make the right decisions, the best decisions. And that’s where I put it on myself to say, I said to you guys several times we’d have to save him from himself. And in some ways, that’s probably what I would say I didn’t do. I didn’t save him from himself with that game, wanting to play, expecting to play, preparing to play. The truth of the matter is, he probably wasn’t in a position where he was ready to play. And that’s what we got to do a better job of.
Heading into the week, Edwards’s status remains unclear, and the Badgers don’t want to make the same mistake again.
“That’s where, when you ask, where is Billy, is he good? I don’t know right now, and we just got to be able to see, because that’s one of those things that each and every week, they’re better, but how much better are they? And can you test it during the week to figure out where they are, so you don’t get in a situation like we did against Maryland?”
Heading into the Maryland game, Fickell preached the importance of saving Edwards from himself, so it’s a big mishap that the team rushed their quarterback into a game and re-aggravated his injury. From Week 4, it’s clear the Badgers need Edwards to execute their offense, so getting him fully healthy has to be the goal, even if it means sitting out another week.
