Wisconsin's 2018 football season is right around the corner, with fall camp expected to start at the end of the month. With that in mind, BadgerBlitz.com will be running through the burning questions the Badgers are facing at each position group as they look to build on last year's 13-1 season.

After spending most of the 2016 season in a time-share with Bart Houston, Alex Hornibrook was handed the reigns to Wisconsin's offense last fall. That extra year of experience seemed to pay off for Hornibrook, who took the step forward that the Badgers were hoping for when he became the unquestioned leader of Wisconsin's offense.

Just take a look at the stats: Hornibrook's completion percentage jumped from 58.6 percent in 2016 to 62.3 percent in 2017, and his passer rating spiked to 148.6 from 125.8 - good enough for third-best in the Big Ten behind Ohio State's J.T. Barrett and Penn State's Trace McSorley. He did throw 15 interceptions (second-most in the Big Ten), but Hornibrook made up for it by throwing 25 touchdown passes and bouncing back from early in-game mistakes.

Even with the interceptions, it was a good season for Hornibrook. Not "'good for a Wisconsin quarterback," just plain good. And by capping off his year with a stellar performance in the Orange Bowl - where he completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 258 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions - Hornibrook gave UW fans a glimpse of what his ceiling could be over the next two seasons.

This is the big one for the Badgers - the one that could very well determine if they remain in the hunt for a bid to the College Football Playoff after coming so close in 2017. Their schedule is more difficult this year, and their defense has plenty of question marks to answer of their own - but Alex Hornibrook can make things a lot easier for the Badgers if he takes another step forward during his junior season.

But what would that look like, exactly? Hornibrook doesn't need to play like he did in the Orange Bowl every week - far from it. But we've seen him play at a high level against a good, play-making defense, and all of the offensive weapons he used to pick apart the Hurricanes are back for 2018 - including what is likely to be their best group of wide receivers in recent team history. And with defenses also having to worry about stopping Jonathan Taylor, Hornibrook will have plenty of chances to make big plays for the Badgers. His job this year is to convert more of them - and cut down on the turnovers.

If he can continue to be Mr. Efficiency on first and second down and limit the turnovers (especially in conference play), Hornibrook could be the engine that helps Wisconsin's offense go from good to great in 2018.

In preparing for our fall camp series, Jon McNamara and John Veldhuis sat down to break down what they are expecting to see out of Wisconsin's position groups during the pre-season. Their conversation is included below.

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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.