MADISON -- Luke Fickell and the Badgers had their eighth practice of spring on Tuesday. While the quarterbacks had an up-and-down day, we saw some interesting developments within many of the major competition battles, notably at receiver and in the secondary.

BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene for the eighth of 15 practices, and will be in attendance throughout the duration of spring. Here are some notes from Tuesday's session.

Tuesday was quite an inconsistent day for both Tyler Van Dyke and Braedyn Locke, featuring the most interceptions and poor reads of any practice this spring.

It’s difficult to gauge the current leader in the quarterback competition given such a messy day, but I’d give the edge to Locke. Van Dyke’s best throws are better than Locke’s best, but Locke is simply more consistent and doesn’t make as many costly mistakes.

Apart from the starting competition, Mabrey Mettauer is continuing to look better every practice. His mechanics, accuracy and confidence all look much improved compared to when we first saw him. And with the departure of Nick Evers to the transfer portal, Mettauer moves firmly into the QB3 spot.

The quarterback competition should look clearer as the wide receiver hierarchy begins to establish itself.

Will Pauling is far-and-away the best on the team, while fellow slot receivers Trech Kekahuna and Vinny Anthony II have been some of the bigger camp standouts.

Anthony’s speed especially jumped out on Tuesday. Defensive backs haven’t really been tackling receivers in practice, but I don’t think they’d be able to catch Anthony anyways.

The main perimeter receivers, Bryson Green, C.J. Williams and Quincy Burroughs, are all good for a big play every practice or so, but have also been quite inconsistent.

On the other hand, the running back rotation continues to look erratic.

Chez Mellusi will almost certainly be the starter come the beginning of the season, and Tawee Walker seems like the 1b option.

After those two is when it becomes messy. Gideon Ituka, Jackson Acker, Nate White and Cade Yacamelli have all been good enough to receive consistent practice reps, but none of the four have truly separated themselves.

The running back room has the opposite problem of the tight end room, which is perhaps the thinnest on the entire team.

Jackson McGohan continued to look like a reliable receiving option and is easily the most athletic tight end currently in the rotation, but it’s hard to imagine him receiving significant playing time if he doesn’t improve his blocking.