Wisconsin's 2023 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the top 30 players who we think will be the keys to success for Luke Fickell's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.

Tanner Mordecai was the most significant transfer Wisconsin landed during its recruiting run in the portal. Entering and committing to Wisconsin on the same day, Mordecai wasn't shopping around — he knew where he was going, and why.

"(I'm here to) show them that I did what I did at SMU, I can do that at the best conference in the nation," he told reporters this spring.

Mordecai was the second quarterback transfer the Badgers' reeled in, after Nick Evers and prior to Braedyn Locke. After filling up the stat sheet for two seasons in Dallas with 72 touchdowns and 7,152 yards, he was one of the hottest commodities in the transfer portal. Initially, the gunslinger planned to enter the 2023 NFL Draft, but ultimately decided to try to improve his draft stock at the highest level of the sport. And what better place to do that than Wisconsin? The new, high-powered offense orchestrated by Phil Longo was enticing recruits all around the country.

"I think our relationship is awesome. He's a really good coach," Mordecai said of Longo. "I think he's a top offensive guy in college football and the NFL. That's a big reason why I'm here; to play under him, to be in a really successful offense...I knew him prior, at high school when he was at Ole Miss. I was close to committing to him there, and so it's kinda crazy how it comes full circle."

Aside from one morbidly abysmal practice in which he threw four interceptions — a practice which just so happened to be open to the public and televised — Mordecai had a tremendous spring with Wisconsin. He was the clear-cut QB1 throughout spring camp for a reason. He impressed in so many facets of his game, from command of the offense to ball placement to timing and decision making.

Mordecai may not have the strongest arm you'll ever see on a quarterback, and he's not a dazzling dual-threat like some of the nation's top prospects. But watching him play for 15 practices, with a new offense and new teammates, his intangible qualities like his football IQ, pocket presence and touch are extremely evident. His accuracy is pristine, and he has a sneaky element of escapability and overall mobility.

"Tanner has a strong enough arm to make every throw on the field," Longo said this spring. "He can snap off all the quick ones, we call them automatics...He can really fit some things into some tight windows, and I think he's gonna be a really really good deep ball guy....I think he's much more athletic than people give him credit for. He turned the corner on a scramble on a play last week that surprised even myself."

Last season, Mordecai was tied for sixth-best in the nation with 28 "big time throws," according to Pro Football Focus. That number bested quarterbacks like Michael Penix Jr., Max Duggan and No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young. Clearly, that's not an entirely objective statistic, but nonetheless it illustrates the moxie and precision Mordecai plays with.

The starting quarterback is generally the most important player on any team, but as Wisconsin transitions to the air raid, that's even more so the case. The bottom line is that Wisconsin's offensive success hinges on Mordecai being the same player he was for two seasons at SMU.

He hasn't played a single snap donning the 'Motion W,' but Mordecai already looks like one of the best quarterbacks to ever come through Wisconsin. In his last season of eligibility, the signal caller has his sights set on returning UW to glory while improving his stock in the eyes of pro evaluators. According to all accounts, he's been all business from his first day in Madison.

"From day one that Tanner's been here, he's acted like the starter," Longo said. "There's no ego, he's very humble...He's been a starter for two years, he's a veteran, he carries himself that way."

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