MADISON -- Wisconsin's quarterback room shrunk with the loss of Alex Hornibrook during the winter, but the position group has displayed its talent during spring and fall practices.

Redshirt freshman Chase Wolf has demonstrated a dual-threat ability through the air and with his feet. And after a solid spring, true freshman Graham Mertz has built upon productive performances this week.

From the seven August sessions open to the media, though, the only quarterback in Jon Budmayr's room who has meaningful college football game experience -- junior Jack Coan -- has shined the most consistently.

“I’d say camp’s gone well so far," Coan said on Wednesday. "I feel like I’m getting better each and every day and taking advantage of my reps. I’m just trying to stay in the moment and just maximize all the reps I get.”

According to Budmayr, the Wisconsin staff has asked Coan to "take a big jump in decision making, understanding situations and being able to protect the football."

"That’s not just protecting the football, not throwing picks," Budmayr said. "It’s protecting the football with your decisions. If something is not there down the field, being able to get through a progression quickly to spit the ball out to a check-down and avoid kind of the negatives early in the downs.

"I like the approach he’s had to it. He understands that he’s into it. Certainly room for improvement - we got to keep going. This next week is big for that, but he’s taken what we’ve asked of him in the spring - stretching the ball down the field, making good decisions, playing within yourself, and that part’s been fun to see so far.”

Last season, Coan played in five games - four of them as a starter away from Camp Randall Stadium - and completed just over 60 percent of his passes for 515 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. In a 2018 campaign where Hornibrook regressed from a 25-touchdown pass output a season prior, Coan did not set the Wisconsin fanbase on fire with his play or statistics, either.

During spring and now midway through fall camp in August, however, the former four-star quarterback has been productive with the first-team offense.

During the first practice open to the media on Aug. 5, Coan threw over a handful of touchdowns during red-zone periods. During Monday's scrimmage, he led the offense to five touchdowns, one that included a 68-yard catch and run to Jack Dunn. A few days later, he found Dunn once again for a deep completion that the redshirt junior wide receiver caught near the right sideline and ran into the end zone.

There have been a few interceptions scattered among the seven practices, but for the most part, Coan has shown the ability to make the right reads, deliver the ball on time and - perhaps something that was not see often last year - throw an accurate deep pass.

“I’d say a big part of it is just the quarterback," Coan said. "Just taking what the defense gives us and taking advantage of the big shots when they’re there, and if they’re not there, just getting to our check-downs.”

From the opposite side of the ball, the first thing that Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has noticed from Coan was his composure.

"He knows this offense. He knows how to progress through the passing game, and he’s making confident decisions," Leonhard said on Monday. "He has arm talent, he can throw the ball.

"I see big strides from last season. Obviously, he was put in some tough situations. The majority of snaps he took he didn’t know he was the starter. Having an opportunity to game plan for him and see what his strengths are, and like I said, his understanding of what we’re trying to do on defense and how he’s working through his progressions and confidently stepping into throws. I like to see it as a defensive coordinator, for sure."

When asked about Coan's highs and lows last season, Budmayr pointed out the quarterback's ability to play in rhythm as seen in the triple-overtime win at Purdue.

"You look at that and you see a guy on tape who’s putting the ball where he wants to put it, not trying to throw away from defenders," Budmayr explained. "When he’s playing with that rhythm with his feet, he’s truly saying, ‘OK I’m throwing this guy open. I don’t care where that defender is.’

"That was the confidence that you saw and I think a lot of that was tied into understanding what he was seeing. Having his feet underneath him, not rushing himself through progressions but just truly trusting it. If it’s there, cutting it loose. If not, getting through a read, so those were some of the highs was you saw him playing with confidence.”

When asked about playing in rhythm, Coan noted that involves "trusting" his feet but also staying on time and ahead of plays while knowing where his reads are taking him each snap.

“Well your feet are a big part of timing, so if you’re taking three steps to one route, it’s not there, then it’s just taking a reset to another route and another reset to another route and then getting to the check-down," Coan said. "Just constantly going through these practice reps have been big.”

When Coan hits those marks, success follows. On the flip side, Budmayr believes some of the lows in 2018 came from decision making and avoiding negative plays.

“Not everything is going to be perfect," Budmayr said. "If something goes south, then you know what, how can I level it out and turn a ‘minus’ into a ‘zero’, instead of a minus into a ‘minus-minus.' He saw at times where he could spit the ball out of his hand. Then there were other times where protection was clean and it allowed himself to get through a read, and we got hung up a little bit early on so timing would lead to some of those.”

In the past two weeks, Wolf has shown an ability to extend plays with his feet and make strong throws when called upon. Mertz continues to look more comfortable, especially with deep touchdown passes to A.J. Abbott and Aron Cruickshank on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Despite the talent behind him, Budmayr said that Coan has "been locked in to getting better." A conversation the former Wisconsin quarterback and now assistant had during the winter with his pupil involved his goals and vision moving forward.

"One of the neat things about Jack is, it’s important to him to set the standard for the room," Budmayr said. "Jack knows what he has to improve and what he has to get better on, but he wants this unit to be the best unit. He’s taken it upon himself to prepare himself to play at the highest level but also to make sure that when there’s questions asked, when there’s discussions being had in the meeting room, that he’s feeding them with knowledge.

“That’s a standard that he took, and he said, ‘I want this to be.’ You can appreciate that from him because he’s worked at it, and he understands what he’s had to do to get better. But at the same time, he’s also set a standard for the group that they’ve played to, and they feed off of each other with that. They play well together.”

Despite the competition with the position group to receive those snaps under the lights of Camp Randall and opposing venues, Coan believes the atmosphere in the quarterback room is "great."

"They’re all my good friends," Coan said. "We spend so much time together and do so much together that it’s really good and fun to be around them. It’s definitely a great group.”