BadgerBlitz.com dives into its message board to take questions from subscribers in this week's mailbag.
Does Graham Mertz get some series during competitive games this year?
This is a difficult question to answer considering the last time media members saw Graham Mertz throw live was over a year ago during fall camp (2019). Without a spring and fall session this year, saying that Mertz will or will not play in competitive games would be pure speculation, in my opinion.
Without any actual practice reps this off-season in front of the coaching staff, I think things sway even more towards Jack Coan due to his game experience. If Mertz was going to make a serious push, it would have come this spring and fall, and those opportunities were taken off the table. Furthermore, If Paul Chryst was going to use two quarterbacks this year - I have no reason to believe he was/is - I'm not sure how different Mertz is in comparison to Coan. If you wanted to give defenses a different look, Chase Wolf would probably be that guy from the current quarterbacks room.
Until I'm told otherwise, I'm going to assume Coan is the starter and will play all of the competitive reps this fall in order to give Wisconsin the best chance to win each week.
Over your career as a journalist, who have been your favorite players to interview? What have been the best games/moments you have covered?
During my time covering the team as a student at Wisconsin and a few years after, Jay Valai, John Moffitt and Aaron Henry were three of the more memorable athletes I was able to write about. They all had infectious personalities are were excellent during interviews. Valai, who is now an assistant coach at Texas, gave me a quote that came to mind when I read this question.
"High school, against Southlake Carroll, against some kid (Clint Renfro, freshman wide receiver, TCU) who was supposed to be the one of the fastest guys in the nation, top receiver in the nation, and he came over the middle and I gave him some whiplash. He was talking all game and had his mouthpiece in his helmet and I was like, "you think I won't hit you?" It felt good; he was like the pretty boy, the poster boy. He ended up going to TCU. I felt he was a little too cocky and I had to bring him down a little bit."
I would have to think in more depth about some of the most memorable Wisconsin games I've been fortunate enough to cover. Melvin Gordon's "snow globe" game comes to mind, as well as some bowl victories. But I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.
At the high school level, Marquette's 35-28 playoff win over Kenosha Bradford in 2009 was one of the most memorable games I've covered. The Hilltoppers had future Badgers in Marcus Trotter and Michael Trotter; the Red Devils had running back Melvin Gordon.
As far as individual performances, Mukwonago's Dominic Cizauskas probably holds that title for me. During a 35-30 Level 2 upset win over Big Eight Conference champion Sun Prairie in 2013, Cizauskas returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown, ran for two scores on the ground and also forced two fumbles. It was an incredible performance.
