Tanner Mordecai’s legs are becoming a big part of Wisconsin’s offense

West Lafayette — Tanner Mordecai doesn’t exactly strike you as a mobile quarterback. With his gaudy career passing numbers and good but not exceptional athleticism, he looks more like a pocket passer at first glance.

“Personally, when I first transferred here, I didn’t know that Tanner had it like that running the football,” wide receiver CJ Williams said following the Badgers’ win over Purdue on Friday night.

Mordecai ran the football 14 times for 58 yards and two scores in West Lafayette. His previous career-high rushing attempts was 10.

Over the past two weeks, the gunslinger has collected four touchdowns on the ground. Before that, he had four rushing touchdowns in total over the course of his five-year career.

“That’s where Tanner, I think sometimes, is best,” Luke Fickell said after the game. “His ability to make things happen, his ability to move around, his ability to buy time is really big.”

Offensive coordinator Phil Longo is beginning to incorporate Mordecai’s legs more frequently. The entire playbook appeared to open up more against the Boilermakers, but the emphasis on running with his quarterback was very apparent Friday night.

Looking back at Longo’s history, it’s not all that surprising. In fact, it would’ve been fair to wonder about the lack of quarterback running in the first few games of the season.

Last season in Chapel Hill, the coordinator orchestrated a highly successful offense led by a consensus first round quarterback prospect in Drake Maye. But with the season Maye had through the air — 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns — it’s easy to forget that he carried North Carolina on the ground as well.

Maye led the Tar Heels in both carries with 184 and yards with 698. He also scored seven times on the ground, which was good for second on the team. The quarterback has some natural escapability, which undoubtedly helped pad those numbers. But Longo consistently drew up designed runs for Maye as well, which is a big reason why that offense was so dangerous.

Mordecai’s first touchdown run was designed; he kept the football on a read option and took it in from 14 yards out. His second came on a pass play that turned into a scramble drill when Purdue dropped into coverage.

“Just trying to take what they give me,” Mordecai said after the game. “The first (touchdown), I pulled it on a zone read because the end chased the back, so just trying to do my job. The second one was a scramble, (the defense) kind of dropped eight and there weren’t a lot of throwing lanes.”

A quarterback making things happen on the ground, both on designed runs and via improvisation? Now that’s starting to sound like a Longo-coached offense.

“Some of them were designed, some of them were option plays,” Fickell said of Mordecai’s day on the ground. “Obviously he had a big run down there in the red zone for a touchdown in a drop eight situation. He’s a threat in many different ways.”

We’re now four games into the season, and Mordecai has twice as many rushing touchdowns as passing touchdowns. That’s certainly a little odd given the preseason expectations that the Badgers were going to air it out with reckless abandon. Still, his teammates love to see him taking matters into his own hands.

“He’s a dog. I mean, he does whatever it takes to win, and that’s what you need out of your quarterback,” wide out Chimere Dike said. “I’m so proud of the way he played, so proud of how the offensive line blocked.”

Offensive lineman Trey Wedig expressed no surprise at the day his gunslinger had on the ground. “He can get out of the pocket really easily,” he said. “Our offense is kind of designed for that too.”

Game-planning plays a huge role in how an offense looks any given week, and Wisconsin’s opponent assuredly had something to do with the day Mordecai had on the ground. Purdue was coming off a loss to Syracuse in which it allowed a staggering 195 yards and four rushing touchdowns to Orange quarterback Garrett Schrader. Regardless, Mordecai maintained that his success on the ground was more about the Badgers’ offense than Purdue’s defense.

“I mean, maybe,” he said when asked if what the Boilermakers put on tape the week prior had anything to do with his increased rushing output. “Yeah, you can learn from other teams and how they defend other teams, but we’re focused on what we can do against what their defense does week to week. I just try to take what they give me, believe in our coaches’ plan and execute it.”

Mordecai’s ability to pull down the football and find a crease in the defense on designed passing plays came up huge, especially because Wisconsin has struggled to throw the football in the red zone. Williams believes that the receiving core needs to do a better job of getting open so Mordecai doesn’t need to make things happen on his own as often.

“Sometimes they’ll drop into a zone, drop eight and we won’t be able to find a hole. I think Tanner has the ability to make up for that and that lack of us not getting as open as we want to,” the receiver said. “At the end of the day, I think it’s a great thing, but we also have to work on getting open consistently so he doesn’t need to get out of the pocket and run.”

With 193 passing yards and 209 rushing yards, the Badgers’ offense was about as balanced as it gets against Purdue. Mordecai using his legs is a big reason why. As Wisconsin enters the thick of Big Ten play, with an offense that’s still not quite firing on all cylinders, Mordecai’s rushing and scrambling ability figures to be a huge X-factor down the stretch.

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