PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Wisconsin held its final practice at UW-Platteville on Sunday night and participated in a lengthy scrimmage. And while there are five more practices slated to be open to reporters this week in Madison, the pieces to the puzzle are beginning to come together with the season opener fast approaching. Here are three takeaways:
1. One of the most notable developments was that Tyler Van Dyke handled all the first-team quarterback snaps, with Braedyn Locke working exclusively with the second-team offense. It marked the first time since the spring that the coaching staff chose not to rotate both quarterbacks between the top two units.
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell declined to declare a starting quarterback after practice, noting that coaches still could switch who earns most of the first-team snaps in future preseason practices. He said the original plan for the Sunday scrimmage was to have third-team quarterback Mabrey Mettauer earn some second-team snaps and give Locke a handful of reps with the first-team group, but that the plan changed.
Still, it has felt from viewing practices for nearly two weeks that the No. 1 quarterback job has been trending in Van Dyke’s direction. Van Dyke’s arm strength and accuracy, as well as his success as a runner in the RPO game, give him an advantage. He once again demonstrated Sunday why those traits have him positioned for the starting job.
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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 dove in the front right corner of the end zone on safety Preston Zachman. As Van Dyke jogged off the field to the sideline, Fickell stuck out his hand and gave him a high five.
Wisconsin pitted its first-team offense against the second-team defense and the second-team offense against the first-team defense during the scrimmage. Van Dyke had the top offense rolling as the scrimmage progressed. He pulled the ball and completed a short pass to slot receiver Will Pauling for what would have been a 45-yard touchdown before officials spotted the ball at the defense’s 25 to give the offense more plays.
Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke worked with the second team during the Badgers’ scrimmage on Sunday. (Mark Hoffman / USA Today)
That drive ended when Van Dyke tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass on third-and-7 to slot receiver Trech Kekahuna in the right side of the end zone. Van Dyke was intercepted once when inside linebacker Garrison Solliday (who unofficially had three sacks during the scrimmage) batted a ball in the air over the middle and safety Owen Arnett secured it. But Van Dyke also threw a 14-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Pauling.
Locke, meanwhile, has shown this preseason that he has made progress since he was forced to start three games as a redshirt freshman a year ago in place of an injured Tanner Mordecai. Locke has thrown a few more interceptions than he would like, including a pick six on Sunday when Arnett stepped in front of Kekahuna. But overall, Locke has made significant strides.
During the early red-zone team drill, Locke backpedaled and bought time to throw a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jackson McGohan over the middle. He also threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to receiver C.J. Williams, who made a fantastic adjustment on a ball that was in his area before he even turned around.
Locke led a touchdown drive during the scrimmage that featured two tremendous throws on consecutive plays. He completed a 30-yard pass to Kekahuna down to the 4 and then rolled to his right and tossed a strike to McGohan for a touchdown on safety Austin Brown.
Fickell said he has learned this preseason that “we’ve got two really good, really capable quarterbacks.” If Locke is the second-stringer, he could position himself as the future starter given that he’ll have two years of eligibility remaining after this season. Fickell said the hope is that Wisconsin doesn’t have to consistently go to the transfer portal for a quarterback with one year of eligibility left, as the Badgers did with Mordecai and then Van Dyke.
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“I’m not guaranteeing those things, and we don’t know,” Fickell said. “But I know we feel a lot better about where we are. And that’s why if you don’t have a 1B, then you’re obviously always thinking ahead to say, ‘OK, well what are we going to have to do?’ As we know, the landscape is changing. It’s becoming more and more — I don’t want to say difficult — but different to figure some of those things out. If you have it within your system, that’s going to be the key. I really do believe that’s where we are right now.”
2. Fickell was asked which true freshmen could play in some capacity this season and mentioned six names: offensive linemen Kevin Heywood, Colin Cubberly and Emerson Mandell, running backs Darrion Dupree and Dilin Jones and cornerback Xavier Lucas.
Heywood has worked the past few practices as the first-team right tackle in place of Riley Mahlman, who wore a yellow non-contact jersey but is expected to return soon. Heywood had been the second-team left tackle. Cubberly has been the second-team right guard and Mandell the second-team right tackle. Fickell said Cubberly and Mandell likely would be in the two-deep rotation.
Dupree and Jones have demonstrated explosive playmaking potential in a talented running back group that still figures to feature Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker as the top tandem. Mellusi returned from a hamstring issue and participated in the scrimmage on Sunday.
Lucas is the freshman who most recently has emerged on the radar as a potential contributor. He earned snaps with the second-team defense on Sunday against the first-team offense and played with good instincts and physicality. He assisted on a tackle when running back Cade Yacamelli ran up the middle. He later stopped receiver Chris Brooks Jr. for a 1-yard loss on a short throw near the red zone. Fickell said Lucas “is a kid that we are going to have to find a way to play.”
When healthy, freshman outside linebacker Thomas Heiberger could factor into the rotation at his position.
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3. With Aaron Witt sidelined for part of preseason practices and Heiberger out “until we get into the season,” according to Fickell, Wisconsin has shuffled some pieces at outside linebacker. The Badgers have moved inside linebacker Sebastian Cheeks and defensive lineman Ernest Willor Jr. to outside linebacker to shore up numbers with the second-team group. Fickell said the moves could be permanent for both players.
Cheeks, a North Carolina transfer, is 6 feet 3 and 230 pounds. Willor, who was a four-star signee in the 2024 recruiting class, is 6-4 and 267 pounds. Part of the decision to move Willor, Fickell said, stemmed from how good he felt about his top six defensive linemen for the season.
“We may have found a home,” Fickell said of Willor. “It might be a better fit for him in the long run. It gives us some more size and some things on the edge over there. It will allow us in some ways to do some different things as he continues to grow as well.”
Those moves would give Wisconsin eight scholarship outside linebackers this season instead of six. The top three consistently have been John Pius, Leon Lowery and Darryl Peterson. Wisconsin’s edge rushers once again have begun to make their presence felt. Pius recorded a pair of sacks in a three-play span on Sunday, while Lowery and Cheeks added sacks.
Fickell noted that some of the success off the edge, particularly from the first-team defense, came because it was matching up against two freshman tackles with the second-team offense in Mandell and left tackle Derek Jensen. But Fickell said the emphasis on improving the defense this offseason is paying off.
“There is a different vibe,” Fickell said. “There is a different feel with some of the things that we can do without having to always blitz and our ability to get some pressure off of those edges. And then the ability to play the guys inside enough that when you’re fresh, it’s a lot different in there.”
(Top photo of Tyler Van Dyke (10): Mark Stewart / USA Today)
