PRATTVILLE, Wis. — Wisconsin held its final practice and participated in an extended scrimmage on Sunday night at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Five more practices will be open to reporters in Madison this week, but the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together as the season opener rapidly approaches. Here are three takeaways.
1. One of the most notable developments was Tyler Van Dyke taking all of the first-team quarterback snaps while Braedyn Locke exclusively ran the second-team offense, marking the first time since the spring that the coaching staff has opted not to rotate the two quarterbacks between the top two units.
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell declined to announce a starting quarterback after practice, saying the coaching staff can change who gets the most first-team snaps in upcoming preseason practices. He said the original plan for Sunday's scrimmage was to have third-team quarterback Mabry Mettauer get the second-team snaps and have Lock practice a few sessions with the first-team group, but that plan has changed.
Still, after watching nearly two weeks of practice, the No. 1 quarterback spot seemed to be leaning toward Van Dyke. Van Dyke's arm strength and accuracy, along with his success as a runner in the RPO game, give him an advantage, and he proved again Sunday why those traits position him for the starter spot.
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During an early 11-on-11 red-zone drill, Van Dyke threw a perfect 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Riley Nowakowski, who pounced on safety Preston Zachman in the front right corner of the end zone. As Van Dyke jogged down the field toward the sideline, Fickell stuck his hand out for a high-five.
Wisconsin pitted the first-team offense against the second-team defense and the second-team offense against the first-team defense in a scrimmage. As the scrimmage progressed, Van Dyke led the offense in dominance. He hauled the ball in and completed a short pass to slot receiver Will Pauling for what should have been a 45-yard touchdown, but the referee placed the ball at the defensive 25, giving the offense an opportunity to make another play.
University of Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke worked out with the second squad during the Badgers' scrimmage on Sunday. (Mark Hoffman/USA Today)
The drive ended with Van Dyke throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to slot receiver Trek Kekahuna in the right side of the end zone on third down and seven. Van Dyke was intercepted once when inside linebacker Garrison Solidi (who unofficially recorded three sacks during the scrimmage) launched the ball over the middle and safety Owen Arnette caught it. However, Van Dyke also threw a 14-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Poehling.
Lock, meanwhile, has shown signs of improvement this preseason since being forced to start three games as a redshirt freshman last year in place of an injured Tanner Mordecai. Lock has thrown a few more interceptions than he would have liked, including Arnette's six on Sunday to put Kekahuna in front of him. But overall, Lock has made big strides.
Early in a team drill in the red zone, Lock dropped back to buy time and threw a 3-yard touchdown pass up the middle to tight end Jackson McGaughan and then a 3-yard touchdown pass to receiver C.J. Williams, who made a nice adjustment to the ball that was in his zone before turning around.
Lock led a touchdown drive in a scrimmage that featured two great passes in succession. He completed a 30-yard pass to Kekahuna at the 4-yard line, then rolled right and threw a pass to McGaughan for a touchdown pass to safety Austin Brown.
Fickell said he learned this preseason that “there are two really good, really capable quarterbacks out there.” If Lock is a reserve, he could be a future starter with two years of eligibility remaining after this season. Fickell said he hopes Wisconsin doesn't have to keep searching the transfer portal for a quarterback with a year of eligibility remaining, as the Badgers did when they acquired Mordecai and then Van Dyke.
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“I'm not guaranteeing those things, and we don't know,” Fickell said, “but we feel pretty good about where we are. So, when you don't have a first baseman, obviously you're always looking ahead and saying, 'Okay, what do we have to do?' You know, things are changing. It's getting harder to figure out some of those things, but I don't want to say it's hard. If you have it in the system, that's going to be the key. I really believe we're in that situation right now.”
2. Asked which freshmen could play in some capacity this season, Fickell named six: offensive linemen Kevin Haywood, Collin Coverley and Emerson Mandell, running backs Darrion Dupree and Dylin Jones and cornerback Xavier Lucas.
Haywood, wearing a yellow non-contact jersey, has played first-team right tackle for the past few practices in place of Riley Mahlman, who is expected to return soon. Haywood was second-team left tackle. Cubberley was second-team right guard and Mandell was second-team right tackle. Fickell said Cubberley and Mandell are likely in the two-man rotation.
Dupree and Jones have shown explosive playmaking potential among a talented running back group that also features the top duo of Chez Melusi and Tawee Walker, who participated in Sunday's scrimmage after returning from a hamstring injury.
Lucas is a freshman who has recently been highlighted as a player who can contribute. On Sunday, Lucas played for the second-team defense against the first-team offense and played with good instincts and physicality, assisted on running back Cade Yakameli with a tackle as he ran up the middle, then stopped receiver Chris Brooks Jr. for a one-yard loss on a short pass near the red zone. “He's a kid who has to figure out how to play,” Fickell said of Lucas.
If healthy, freshman outside linebacker Thomas Heiberger could be added to the rotation at his position.
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3. With Aaron Witt missing parts of preseason practice and Heiberger out “until the start of the season,” Wisconsin has made some changes at outside linebacker, Fickell said. The Badgers moved inside linebacker Sebastian Cheeks and defensive lineman Ernest Wheeler Jr. to outside linebacker to bolster their secondary-team depth. Fickell said both moves could be permanent.
Cheeks, a transfer from the University of North Carolina, is 6-foot-3 and weighs 230 pounds. Wheeler, a four-star signee in the 2024 freshman class, is 6-foot-4 and weighs 267 pounds. Fickell said part of the decision to transfer Wheeler was because he had a good feel for the top six defensive linemen this season.
“We may have found a spot,” Fickell said of Wheeler, “that might be a better fit for him long term. We have more size, more of an advantage. As he continues to develop, we'll be able to do things differently in some ways.”
These moves mean Wisconsin will have eight scholarship outside linebackers this season instead of six. The top three all time are John Pius, Leon Lowry and Darryl Peterson. Wisconsin's edge rushers are making their presence felt again. Pius recorded two sacks in three plays Sunday, while Lowry and Cheeks added sacks.
Fickell noted that some of the success, especially on the edge of the first-team defense, was down to playing against two rookie tackles on the second-team offense, starting Mandell and left tackle Derek Jensen, but Fickell credited the team for focusing on improving on defense this offseason.
“It's a different atmosphere,” Fickell said, “the things you can do without having to blitz all the time, the ability to apply pressure on the edge, it's a different feel. And the ability to make guys play well inside, so when you're playing fresh, it's a really different atmosphere.”
(Top photo of Tyler Van Dyke (10) by Mark Stewart/USA Today)
