In BadgerBlitz.com's latest 3-2-1 column, we examine what the media has learned since fall camped opened up.
RELATED: Wisconsin Quarterback Jack Coan Undergoes Successful Surgery | Graham Mertz Ready to Start Winning for Wisconsin | Veteran group of defensive linemen ready to lead Wisconsin in 2020 | Five takeaways from a virtual call with defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard |
THREE THINGS WE'VE LEARNED DURING CAMP
1. With Jack Coan out, Graham Mertz is QB1
The biggest news from Wisconsin's fall camp so far was the injury Jack Coan suffered just over one week ago. The senior quarterback underwent successful surgery on his right foot last Tuesday and will be out indefinitely after a non-contact injury during practice.
“He’s incredibly unselfish," head coach Paul Chryst said about Coan. "He cares about this team and doesn’t want anything to affect the team in a negative way. He’s pretty neat that way. His focus is not about him and feeling sorry for himself, he does focus on the guys and this team. It’s what you love about him last week when I was talking about him and love about him.”
With Coan, who is 12-6 as a starter for the Badgers, out for an extended amount of time, redshirt freshman Graham Mertz has taken reps with the first-team offense. Redshirt sophomore Chase Wolf is next in line with redshirt junior Danny Vanden Boom the No. 3 option.
“When Jack went down on Saturday, you come back to work on Sunday and sometimes guys flip that whole script and now they are someone they are not, and that’s really noticeable,” quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr said. “I don’t want him to change who he is. Graham has always had got a great presence in the huddle. He’s got a great camaraderie with guys, so that didn’t change. I didn’t see anything with his play that changed.”
What has Mertz taken away from Coan, who completed 69.6 percent of his passes with just five interceptions in 2019?
“Jack is a fantastic decision maker,” Mertz said. “He knows every coverage where he’s going with the ball. That’s one area where last season I needed to work on that. Seeing him in play and in the film room, that’s one area where he helped me a ton and continues to help me here.”
