MADISON, Wis. – After two lost weekends of games due to a coronavirus outbreak, the University of Wisconsin football team is in position to play Saturday night. Whether the Badgers will have their starting quarterback is still up for debate.
Speaking with reporters Monday, head coach Paul Chryst said redshirt freshman Graham Mertz has passed all his tests after being diagnosed with COVID-19 but couldn’t commit to him playing when No.13 Wisconsin travels to Michigan Saturday night (6:30 p.m. CT, ABC).
“He’s starting the process of coming back,” Chryst said. “His tests are all done. I think he’ll be able to have some practice. We’ll see if it’s enough practice time. You don’t know that. Each guy is different. How do they handle all of that? We’ll see on him.”
Mertz was the first publicized case of Wisconsin’s COVID outbreak, first reported October 25. The outbreak ended up reaching a reported 27 student-athletes and football staff members, including 21 cases in the week from October 27 to November 2.
On Monday, the football program announced there had been no new positive cases in five of the last six days. Since Nov. 2, one staff member and one student-athlete have tested positive, giving the program a total of five active cases.
Getting the start for the injured Jack Coan, Mertz was almost perfect in Wisconsin’s season-opening 45-7 win over Illinois October 23. He completed 20 of 21 passes for 248 yards and five touchdowns. He set team records for single-game completion percentage (95.2) and touchdown passes. Mertz completed his first 17 pass attempts, matching a team record for consecutive completions.
Big Ten policy requires Mertz any player who tests positive for COVID-19 to miss at least 21 days and undergo cardiac screening before being cleared to return. Using that time frame, Mertz could resume team activities Friday. UW has not confirmed the timeline.
While Wisconsin has not released the names of those infected, citing medical privacy, Chryst said the available personnel will look different this weekend compared to the opener.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who did stuff on special teams (in the opener) who are getting work with the first two groups (on) offense or defense,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but I think we’ve got some guys because of the situation, both what they’re doing and how they are progressing and where the whole roster is, get some snaps that three weeks ago weren’t probably in that position.”
