Wisconsin Badgers 2022 Spring Position Preview: Quarterbacks

Less than three months after Wisconsin pulled off a 20-13 win over Arizona State in the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl, the Badgers return to the field in late March to kick up spring practices.

UW will run spring ball between March 22 and April 22 this year, according to a recent social media post. This new iteration of Wisconsin football in 2022 will bring the annual additions and attritions the program works through, but the program also revealed several notable changes on the coaching staff.

BadgerBlitz.com is once again expected to watch any open practices available for reporters to attend. Thus, our position previews start on Monday with the quarterbacks, a position group that sees a fourth-year Badger leading the way once again.

***SPRING FOOTBALL VISITORS***

Graham Mertz enters spring practices the most experienced signal caller for the program, starting 20 of the 22 games he has played in. The Kansas native has completed 296-of-487 throws (60.8%) for 3,269 yards and 18 touchdowns to 16 interceptions.

Fifth-year senior Chase Wolf has played in 10 career games, including four in 2021. His career stats show limited opportunities to air it out -- 15-of-25 passing for 155 yards and two touchdowns to four interceptions. Last season, he connected on only 8-of-16 attempts for 124 yards and one touchdown to two picks in reserve action.

Redshirt freshman Deacon Hill did not play last season while working as the scout team quarterback, but the 6-foot-3, 248-pound California product possesses a strong arm. True freshman Myles Burkett also enters the program as a mid-year enrollee. The three-star prospect from Franklin, Wis., comes to UW claiming player of the year awards from the Associated Press and Gatorade, along with a WIAA Division I state championship.

RELATED: Better Know a Badger -- QB Myles Burkett

Consistency and production from the quarterback spot and, in particular, Mertz will be a storyline in 2022. That especially holds true with three key receiving targets, senior wide receivers Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor and tight end Jake Ferguson, departing the program. The trio combined for 110 of UW's 177 total receptions (62.1%) last season.

Mertz finished the 2021 campaign completing 169-of-284 passes (59.3% completion percentage) for 1,958 yards and nine touchdowns to 11 interceptions. Early season struggles showed against Penn State and Notre Dame, connecting on just 51.3% of his attempts with six interceptions and one lone touchdown in those two losses.

However, Mertz showed improvement during the course of the season, highlighted in the final stretch run that ended with a 4-1 record for Wisconsin.

BadgerBlitz.com asked former Badgers in recent months who they think will emerge as breakout players during the 2022 season. Both inside linebacker Leo Chenal and cornerback Faion Hicks believe it will be Mertz.

"I really do feel like Graham is gonna continue to take those steps," Chenal said in January. "He's shown a lot of improvement, and I think personally, this is gonna be his year."

"I know he kind of broke out there early before, but I think it's gonna be a good year for Graham," Hicks said in early March. "Under a new coordinator [Bobby Engram], I think he's going to do a good job of catering to Graham's attributes and making him a better player, and I think he's ready.

"I think he's hungry. Just know, the time that I've been back [in Madison] and seeing how he's been working these past couple of days, he's locked in, man. So I'm definitely putting my money on '5.' He's going to get the job done this year."

When asked what progressions he saw from Mertz last season, Hicks first pointed to the loss to Michigan in early October. In that contest, the signal caller completed 8-of-15 throws for 115 yards and a touchdown before exiting after UW's first series of the third quarter due to injury.

Those numbers do not pop out, especially considering Mertz's completion percentage barely reached above 50% in that defeat. However, the quarterback displayed his abilities in the final two drives of the first half. In those possessions, which amounted to 10 of Wisconsin's 17 points, he completed 8-of-10 passes for 115 yards and the 18-yard touchdown pass to Chimere Dike with seven seconds remaining in the second quarter.

"He played a real consistent game, and he just started being more consistent," Hicks said. "That's what we needed out of Graham. He's a great player. He's got the talent. It's about him putting it together and being consistent. He started to do that a lot more towards the end of the year, making the right throws, making the right reads and getting comfortable.

"He had to get his confidence back for a little bit, but nobody never really lost hope in Graham. Like I said, man, he's a great kid. He's a great leader. He's been doing a good job of doing that so far."

Mertz's stats the final five games show improvement, finishing with a 66.3 completion percentage (hitting on 73-of-110 passes) for 909 yards with seven touchdowns to four interceptions. His best performance of 2021 came at Rutgers in early November, finishing 11-of-16 for 240 yards with three touchdowns passes to only one pick.

Even with overall improvement seen during those final handful of games, there were opportunities for growth seen as well. How much Engram influences the offensive scheme and its players still remains to be seen. The new coordinator still does not have an official position group designated to his title on UW's official coaches page as of March 14.

Continued development in Wolf -- the backup last year -- and Hill from a year ago will be areas to watch. How many reps will Burkett -- who hits the ground running as a freshman -- receive?

How Mertz and Wolf, two upperclassmen, perform during spring practices will likely affect the team more in the fall. However, reporters did not see too much of Hill during open fall camp practices. This will be his first taste of spring ball, and it will be worth watching his development, even if his potential for affecting the team directly with on-field production in 2022 may appear minimal.

Mertz and Chenal both described Hill's right arm as a "cannon," and safety John Torchio labeled it as "live."

RELATED: With 'cannon' of an arm, QB Deacon Hill grows during first season at UW

Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst discussed Hill's experiences in late December and how the young signal caller handled his first year at Wisconsin. The second-year Badger received reps during bowl prep practices in December after scout team work during the regular season.

“You wish you had more for guys like Deacon, that are just starting to take advantage of all the reps that they're getting," Chryst said on Dec. 20. "But I've loved the way that he's approached kind of everything. He wants to learn. It's been good, and when you can then follow up that learning, those meeting times with significant reps, I think that's helpful.

"But I think the bowl prep, it's been fun with him. Certainly, I think what you gain on scout team, going up against every day, facing our defense and [a] good defense, there's things to learn there. But it's also good to kind of get back and look forward to spring where you can, ‘OK, this is our offense, and this is how it all fits. This is the speed of the game,’ and every high schooler has got to adjust to the speed of the game. So I've liked the way that he's approached it and look forward to what we get still in this bowl prep, but then get him ready. We got time before spring ball starts, and spring will be big for him.”

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @JakeKoco, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45

*Like us on Facebook