MADISON - With the Badgers opening game against Illinois State well out-of-reach for the Redbirds, head coach Paul Chryst decided to sub out starting quarterback Graham Mertz. In his place, he inserted true freshman Myles Burkett.

“I was looking around, seeing 80,000 people in the stands, seeing my family super excited,” Burkett said.

The kid from Franklin, Wis., was finally living out his dream of playing quarterback for the Wisconsin Badgers. But his long-prophesied debut wasn’t all brats and cheese.

On his first series, Burkett dropped back to pass on third-and-long. Before he could go through any sort of progression, he was sacked by Josh Dinga for a nine-yard loss.

“It was kinda a wake-up call, but it was kinda cool, you know? I haven’t gotten hit in a long time,” Burkett said. “You get knocked up a little bit, you get up, I had a little bit of a smile on my face.”

“I was like alright, I’m here, it’s real.”

Burkett would play one more drive in the game, which consisted of a series of handoffs to Julius Davis. That was quite all right with him.

“Knowing my role, knowing my job, just going out and executing,” Burkett responded when asked to describe his play-style. “I’ve always prided myself on not doing too much, limiting turnovers and limiting negative plays.”

Spoken like a true Wisconsin quarterback. Maybe this kid really was meant to take snaps for the Badgers.

Burkett’s dream to play for Wisconsin originated long before he was the star gunslinger for Franklin High School. Long before he led Franklin to a state championship, winning the title game at Camp Randall itself. Long before he was recognized by Gatorade and the Associated Press as the top player in the state of Wisconsin. This is something Burkett has wanted since he was a child.

“Growing up, nobody thought I could do it, except myself and my family,” Burkett recalled. “I remember telling them I’m gonna be here, no matter what happened, no matter how I had to do it, I was gonna end up here somehow.”

Despite all the acclaim Burkett received in Wisconsin, he wasn’t a big-time recruit by any means. Wisconsin was his only Power 5 offer, although he did take trips to visit Iowa and Iowa State.

Having such a singular goal can focus your efforts. It can also severely discourage you, if that goal doesn’t seem any closer to being attained.

“Being a quarterback here is not an easy job. Only one guy gets it every year, so it was kinda that fuel in the back of my head,” Burkett said.

“In the dark days, maybe when my recruitment wasn’t going so well, that pride of, ‘you know what, I’m gonna play at Wisconsin.’”

Burkett says that only his family believed he could fulfill his dream of playing quarterback for Wisconsin. His parents were often there to keep him grounded in that quest.

“On the dark days, they’d always remind me: you wanna play quarterback at Wisconsin? You’ve gotta sacrifice this, you’ve gotta give up this.”

Burkett committed to the Badgers on January 30, 2021, in a sense fulfilling his life-long dream. But he knew there was work to be done.

The quarterback room in Madison was pretty full at the time. Mertz was the incumbent starter, and it was widely considered his job to lose. Chase Wolf, the longtime backup, would be going into his fifth-year senior season. His experience alone gave him a massive leg up in any quarterback competition. Then there was also Deacon Hill, the quarterback from Santa Barbara, Calif., with a rocket arm. He, too, had been patiently waiting for his opportunity.

Burkett enrolled early, arriving in the winter of 2022. As a true freshman, his chances of seeing the field for meaningful snaps during the season was slim to none at the time. He was well aware of the aforementioned returning quarterbacks, but being buried on a depth chart can weigh you down.

“Talking with Coach (Bobby) Engram, he really stressed to me, stay prepared. It’s the process; fall in love with getting better,” Burkett said. “I think that’s when my mindset changed from maybe frustration, to, okay, I’m gonna attack each and every day.”

“He’s confident, he’s a guy who understands the game, he’s worked really hard to prepare,” Engram said.

But how did Burkett prepare? He was the fourth quarterback up during fall camp, and didn’t partake in any team drills during the practices open to reporters.

“It sounds corny, but doing it on air, by myself behind everybody. The play would be going on, and I would be in the back doing the steps or the drop,” Burkett said. “It may look stupid to somebody, from afar, but for me that’s how I prepared.”

“I took pride in staying ready, no matter what…I feel like me doing that in the past set me up for the present.”

While those ahead of him on the depth chart were getting reps, Burkett stayed ready by going through the motions. Without a receiver to run routes for him or even a football, he would simulate calling the play to the huddle, dropping back and making the correct read.

For Burkett, this habit started in spring ball. “I’d be behind and I’d just be doing the motions, doing my reads, and I started noticing, watching the play and doing that, I was starting to pick up the offense a lot better.”

“That was one thing I told him, one thing that helped me,” Mertz said. “When you’re not taking the rep, how can you get a mental rep. And that’s just staying behind, still seeing the look of the defense and making your decision.”

Burkett got his moment in the sun on Saturday, taking snaps for the Badgers much earlier in his career than he thought. On the back of his work ethic, Burkett has arrived at his dream. Now, he’ll need that work ethic to stay there. Engram expects backup quarterback to be a continuous competition throughout the season.

“You’re very diligent in who gets what…for us, at backup QB, guys gotta just continue to compete, and earn that right to get those plays.”

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