Wisconsin’s quarterback carousel has turned so often under Luke Fickell that even the exits have started to tell their own story. The Badgers have leaned on transfers, young arms and backups, then gone back to the portal again this offseason to bring in former Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph after another year marked by injuries and shuffling at the position.
That constant churn has sent several quarterbacks elsewhere, and the early returns on those moves have been mixed at best. A few have found some footing. Most are still searching for it.
Braedyn Locke is the name Wisconsin fans know best from that group. When Tyler Van Dyke went down with a season-ending knee injury in 2024, Locke stepped in and started the final nine games. He finished with 1,936 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, but the Badgers dropped their last five and missed a bowl game for the first time in more than two decades.
Locke transferred to Arizona after the season, but the fit never really took. He played in four games in 2025, then hit the portal again and ended up at Tarleton State.
Even there, the job has not opened up much. Kaden Anderson has been the Texans’ starter, and Locke has completed 10 of 16 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown in five appearances.
Less than two years after starting Big Ten games for Wisconsin, he’s trying to carve out snaps at the FCS level.
Cole LaCrue has taken a different route, and he’s the one former Badger quarterback who has really turned a new opportunity into something. He spent two seasons in Madison without seeing the field, then transferred to Eastern Illinois and finally got a chance to play.
In 2025, he rushed for 498 yards and seven touchdowns while throwing for 851 yards, four scores and seven interceptions. This season, he’s been sharper through the air, with 1,093 passing yards, eight touchdowns and just two interceptions through eight games, plus 188 rushing yards and four more scores.
The completion percentage, 53.9, is still not ideal, but the turnover drop from seven to two stands out.
Mabrey Mettauer arrived at Wisconsin with a different kind of buzz. He was a four-star recruit and appeared in three games as a freshman in 2024, though he attempted only one pass before entering the transfer portal.
He followed former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo to Sam Houston and finally saw meaningful college action there last season, appearing in six games and going 36-for-61 for 293 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. After that, he moved on again, transferring to SMU.
Now at his third school in three years, he has not attempted a pass this season with Kevin Jennings running the Mustangs’ offense.
Nick Evers was another piece of Fickell’s early transfer wave. He came to Wisconsin after starting his career at Oklahoma, but the 2023 season ended without him ever appearing in a game for the Badgers.
He got his first real shot at UConn in 2024, starting eight games and throwing for 918 yards and five touchdowns while adding 245 rushing yards and three scores. His role shrank the next season, when he played in only three games, and that sent him back into the portal for a third time.
He eventually landed at Missouri, his fourth stop after Oklahoma, Wisconsin and UConn.
Tyler Van Dyke’s path is the one that feels most unfinished because he actually won the job at Wisconsin. The Miami transfer opened the 2024 season as the starter and went 43-for-68 for 422 yards in three games.
Then the Alabama game arrived, and his season ended on the opening possession with a knee injury. He never played for the Badgers again.
Van Dyke later transferred to SMU, but he did not play during the 2025 season while recovering. His playing career is over now, and he is an offensive assistant at SMU.
So while Wisconsin has taken plenty of heat for its quarterback situation, there isn’t a former Badger lighting it up elsewhere. Locke is backing up at Tarleton State.
Mettauer hasn’t thrown a pass this season. Evers has moved through four programs.
Van Dyke’s career is done. LaCrue is the outlier, and he’s been productive at Eastern Illinois.
That does not mean the Badgers have solved anything at quarterback. They clearly haven’t. After another disappointing season, Wisconsin rebuilt much of its roster through the portal, and steadiness under center was still a major part of that effort.
And that’s the uncomfortable truth for any program living in the portal era: the real nightmare isn’t just losing a quarterback. It’s watching him become exactly the player you wanted, just somewhere else.
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There is another layer of unpredictability around Iowas backfield, too, with star running back Kamari Moulton out for the season and the workload shifting elsewhere. For Wisconsin, that means preparing for a rivalry game in which the usual scouting report may not hold up for long, and the Heartland Trophy could come down to which side adapts fastest once the ball is kicked off. [Read more 🡒]