Luke Fickell: Wisconsin needs to ‘continue to play the game’ through spring practices

Wisconsin looking to gain momentum in the spring before returning to gridiron this fall

This is a key season in the coaching career of Luke Fickell at Wisconsin after going just 5-7 a year ago. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For Wisconsin head football coach Luke Fickell, this spring is a key one. The Badgers missed out on a bowl game last year, finishing just 5-7 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten Conference.

It marked the first time in 23 years that Wisconsin did not earn a postseason bid and was the first losing season since 2001. All of that led to Fickell making plenty of change, bringing in Alex Grinch on defense with several new players through the transfer portal on offense.

The slide for the Badgers in 2024 started with a 28-13 loss to Penn State in October, as they would close the season losing the last five in a row. Wisconsin scored over 25 points just once during that stretch after putting up 52, 42 and 23 in wins over Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern.

“We’ve got to continue to play the game,” Fickell told members of the media after a recent practice (thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the quotes). “To be honest, we need a lot of reps with the 1s, whether it’s new offense or schemes that we’re doing. There are probably 15 new guys playing defensively, so there is still a lot for those guys to do, so a lot of our reps are 1 reps.”

That includes quarterbacks Billy Edwards Jr. and Danny O’Neil. Edwards spent the past three years at Big Ten school Maryland, making 11 starts in 2024 where he threw for over 250 yards in seven straight.

O’Neil, meanwhile, comes from San Diego State where he was the first-ever true freshman to start under center. He ranked fourth in the Mountain West Conference in completion percentage. 

While Edwards and O’Neil battle for the QB1 job, new tight end Tanner Koziol should provide a solid target for whichever one starts. Koziol was a standout at Ball State, averaging almost eight receptions per game.

Jayden Ballard from Ohio State played in 35 games over four seasons for the defending national champions and was a Top 100 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class as a wide receiver. 

The Badgers will have time to figure things out in the early going, as they open with Miami (OH) followed by Middle Tennessee. From there, they head to Alabama before opening league play with Maryland.