The countdown has now reached 11 days until the Wisconsin Badgers take on the South Florida Bulls in Tampa.
Wisconsin allowed media to view the sights and sounds of eight August practices. And though the Badgers will partake in six more closed sessions starting this weekend into next week -- including an upcoming scrimmage on Monday, according to head coach Paul Chryst - BadgerBlitz.com decided to project its depth chart.
Note: There could always be a player making a Jonathan Taylor-esque ascent to the top of the depth chart after fall camp closes to the media as seen during the 2017 season. For now, let's start with the offense and the position everyone has been watching.
QUARTERBACK
Jack Coan did not do the bare minimum in his first-team reps this fall camp ... he led the unit to sustained success. Displaying accuracy, the ability to stretch the field and making mostly solid decision-making outside of a few interceptions, the junior looked a step above the other quarterbacks overall - especially in consistency.
At this point, it is Coan's job barring any unforeseen circumstances.
According to Wisconsin quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr, the Wisconsin staff has asked Coan to "take a big jump in decision making, understanding situations and being able to protect the football." That included not just throwing interceptions but also his decision making, and the former Badger quarterback turned assistant likes his pupil's approach.
"Certainly room for improvement - we got to keep going," Budmayr said. "This next week is big for that, but he’s taken what we’ve asked of him in the spring - stretching the ball down the field, making good decisions, playing within yourself, and that part’s been fun to see so far.”
The combined quarterback performances very well may have been one of the best seen in recent memory, and the talent in Budmayr's room is apparent. Chase Wolf and Graham Mertz have both shown flashes, though not as consistent as Coan, and each bring unique skillsets to the huddle.
“I think Chase has got a lot of playmaking ability," Budmayr said. "He’s got a good grasp of the offense right now. What’s even better, though, is he’s playing with confidence and he’s got great understanding of the types of throws that he can make.
"With that, we got to rein him in a bit with some decision making, which he understands. It’s important to him, but he can make some unique throws and extend some plays with his feet that present some problems, and it’s been fun to watch him grow in that area. He’d be the first one to tell you with that, he’s got to clean up some of the decisions and value the football just a little bit more.”
Coan and Wolf both shined in the first week of practices open to the media, and one could argue the former and Mertz showed more the past four sessions open to reporters. Based on that, I'll place Wolf and Mertz with an "OR" category behind Coan.
As we detailed Mertz's week in our latest takeaways article, which included Budmayr's comments from Aug. 12, he strung together a few solid practices. The true freshman seemed more comfortable in the offense after working through Wisconsin's heavy installation portion of fall camp to start August. Two deep completions for would-be touchdowns stick out the most from this week in an A.J. Abbott reception down the right sideline on Aug. 14 and hitting Aron Cruickshank perfectly in stride on Aug. 15.
Head coach Paul Chryst was asked on Friday if he thought Mertz has closed the gap on Coan in the competition.
"I don't know yet that it's even to the point where, 'Did he close the close the gap on Jack?' " Chryst said. "I think he's had some really good things happen this week, and you're more playing and less install. Yet I think each one's about their own development. I don't know that he's closed the gap. I don't even know what the gap was, necessarily."
