INDIANAPOLIS - Graham Mertz, the highest-ranked quarterback to ever sign with the Badgers, was supposed to be the darling that escalated Wisconsin football to a level it hadn’t seen before. After his first college start, it looked like Mertz had already made UW a true national contender.

The former four-star recruit from Overland Park, Kan., completed 20-of-21 passes for nearly 250 yards and five touchdown passes against Illinois in Wisconsin’s 2020 season opener. Mertz, though, hasn’t flashed the same potential since becoming the talk of college football on the night of his nearly perfect passing performance.

“Coach (Paul) Chryst pulled me to the side and said, 'not every game is going to be like this,’” Mertz said when asked if thought college football might have been easy after his scintillating performance against the Fighting Illini. “For him, it was a reality check right after. You strive for that every game, and you’d like to say, ‘Oh, that’s the standard. I want to do that every game.’ But you can’t; that’s not the nature of the game.”

Entering his third season as Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Mertz has absorbed that not every game is going to be like his coming-out party. Since completing his first 17 passes against Illinois – which tied a Wisconsin record – Mertz has tussled with poor decision-making, throwing a combined 19 touchdowns to 16 interceptions in his career. Taking the game against the Illini away, Mertz has more interceptions than he does touchdowns. In 2021, he had 11 interceptions and just 10 touchdowns while completing a career-worst 59.5 percent of his passes.

“I would say the biggest thing is there’s just a lot of decisions that you go back and watch, and think you could have done differently,” Mertz said about his failures. “It goes back to decision making. How can I be a better decision-maker? That’s the biggest thing. That’s the biggest stride I’ve been trying to take (this offseason.)”

To improve decision-making, Mertz is watching film in different ways this offseason. He studies his passing mechanics, but he’s also centering his concentration on where the football should go, instead of coercing the football into places that it simply doesn’t fit. First-year offensive coordinator Bobby Engram, who previously served as the tight ends coach with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, is aiding in the process, too.

“We do a great job of communicating,” Mertz said of his relationship with Engram. “That’s big between quarterback, coordinator – the communication. If a play ends, what are we trying to get out of it? If neither of us likes it, then why is it in there? It’s that open communication that we have to build the offense together.”

Building the Badgers' offense in 2022, obviously, focuses on superstar sophomore running back Braelon Allen, who rushed for 1,268 yards as a freshman. His 1,268 yards last season was the third-most ever for a Badger freshman tailback behind only Ron Dayne and Jonathan Taylor. Still, the Badgers will have to throw the football to capture a competitive Big Ten West division title for the first time since 2019 when Wisconsin later lost to No. 1 Ohio State, 34-21, in the Big Ten title game.

"I've appreciated the way that Graham has approached this off-season, coming back in the winter and spring and summer," Chryst said on Wednesday. "Last year he was a leader in many ways. He's continued to do that. He's taking ownership of the things that he needs to do and does a great job of communicating, working with the rest of our players. It's about all of us, right?

"I think a good leader shows that you've got to lead by example but also how can you help others be the best they can be? He's trying to do that, and I've seen him do that. That, as a coach, you appreciate."

Throwing the football, though, is going to take advancement from Metz in 2022. Mertz will have to progress with a new crop of pass-catchers. Gone are pass catchers Jake Ferguson, Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor.

“Graham has to grow,” Chryst said. “I like the group (of pass catchers). Do I know who that group is going to be exactly? I’m anxious to see how that group grows. It’s opportunity, not challenge. You want to talk about change? Change is not having Ferguson.”

For Mertz, the new assembly of wide receivers and the offensive playbook isn’t difficult. He says it’s fun to go through the process of having to learn new schemes and create a new rapport with pass catchers as Wisconsin replaces its top three options from a year ago.

“We got a bunch of guys that truly love the process,” Mertz said. “Yeah, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. We have big goals, big aspirations. But this team is really good – locked into the moment and growing.”

Replicating a game in which he had a pass efficiency rating of 277.1, the third-highest in Wisconsin history, is likely not going to happen again. But Mertz believes that “living in the moment” is the key to having another historic game in a UW uniform, otherwise he’s going to “lose” himself thinking about his future goals and aspirations.

“For me personally, I know that’s the best football I’ve played yet,” Mertz said of his game vs. Illinois back in 2020. “I know that’s ahead of me, too."

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