The Wisconsin Badgers have spent much of the offseason locked in a quarterback battle between graduate transfer Tyler Van Dyke and redshirt sophomore Braedyn Locke, with the two splitting playing time in both spring and fall training camps.
Now, we may finally have an answer at that position: According to Jesse Temple of The Athletic, the Badgers assigned all of their first-team practices to one quarterback, Tyler Van Dyke, during their final practice on Sunday at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
One notable development from UW-Platteville tonight: QB Tyler Van Dyke took all of the first-team snaps rather than sharing them with Braedyn Locke, and it felt like that's been a trend for a while now.
— Jesse Temple (@jessetemple) August 12, 2024
Earlier in the fall, head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged that there was ongoing strife between Van Dyke and Lock, but believed the situation would be resolved quickly.
Now, with the season opening just under three weeks away, that time seems to have come sooner than expected, with the Badgers on track to make Van Dyke the starter.
Van Dyke was expected to be the starter in the spring after a late start after some early missteps, but Lock came up close and personal and split first-team minutes in the fall.
But Van Dijk may spend the rest of his training working towards fitting into the first-team offensive line — at least, that's how it appears at the moment.
After practice, coach Luke Fickell was hesitant to name Van Dyke the starter, instead praising both quarterbacks and saying the allocation was planned in advance.
“We have two really good, really talented quarterbacks,” Fickell said.
Practices are set to resume on campus on Tuesday with Bucky's fifth quarter in attendance, providing a better perspective on where the split will continue or if Lock will get more first-team opportunities.
