MADISON, Wis. - Fifth-year senior Bart Houston will start at quarterback for Wisconsin in the team's season opener against LSU on Sept. 3, according to head coach Paul Chryst.
The Badgers made Chryst's decision public on their Twitter feed, where the second-year head coach said Houston did what he needed to do to fend off a strong challenge from redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook.
"Coming out of it, I really felt Bart did everything that he needed to do and earned the right to get the start," Chryst said. "I was also energized by what Alex did. I loved the way he grew in fall camp. Both need to continue to keep growing. I wanted to get it done as we being our preparation for LSU and make sure everyone knew where we were with that internally, and I'm excited to go forward now."
Chryst said both quarterbacks got better as fall camp moved along, but now their job is to keep improving and help the team win games.
"I think through this whole process we've been really upfront with Bart and Alex," Chryst said. "With Bart, (we) told him he was going to be the starter. His job is to continue to improve and to keep growing."
Chryst's decision wraps up one of the biggest questions the Badgers had to answer on offense this fall, but both players made it interesting. Hornibrook appeared to out-play Houston through the first week of camp, coming off of a good stretch in the spring where he put himself on an even playing field with the fifth-year senior.
But Houston told reporters after practice this week that he thought he turned a corner after the team's first scrimmage of camp, and the results showed on the field during UW's open practices: Houston made better decisions with the football, and helped move the offense down the field in the team's other scrimmages.
"That was kind of the turning point for me this camp," Houston said when asked about his performance in the first scrimmage. "I was (pressing) and then I just realized that I had to chill out and play my game, which is playing ‘the’ game."
"The second scrimmage was definitely a lot better. I just made better decisions and didn’t let the little things affect me. I just moved on."
Hornibrook will serve as Houston's back-up, but Chryst said he liked how the southpaw grew during the position battle.
"(I) wanted to make sure Alex knew that I thought he grew a ton," Chryst said. "The confidence that not only the staff but I think the rest of the team has in him, it's big. I think there's some specific areas that he knows he can get better at, and some specific areas that he can build on that he does well."
But for now all eyes will be on Houston, who waited for several years for his opportunity to play behind Joel Stave. But the waiting and hard work paid off for the senior from Dublin, Calif., who will make his first career start for the Badgers against No. 5 LSU at Lambeau Field next Saturday.
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.
