Badgers Football - 2025 Season

[ReasonablySober]

[Kerb Hohl]

Can't wait for you to hate the next power conference starting caliber, yet not elite guy they get next year.

(I am also glad - want a shiny new toy regardless).

[Matches Malone]

[midranger]

TVD's NIL ask to return was rumored to be quite low, so I figured there was a decent chance he'd come back. Fickell must have told him he wouldn't be the starter next year.

I figured he’d be aight to hang around just to rehab and be vet back up. Probably was.

Fick seemed out on my guy. My guess is Fick told him to buzz off.

Spend all the NIL money on QB and 2 DLs. We can figure out the rest internally.

[MikeIsGood]

Nothing about the QB room this year was going to surprise me, so this doesn't either. Happy for DB I guess

[MVP2110]

Riley Nowakowski to the portal

[Kerb Hohl]

Locke to the portal.

[midranger]

My hope is we go quality over quantity in the portal this year. Three or four ready made pieces (QB and DL [toughest spots, tbf]) vs 15 outcasts from other power 5 programs please.

Trust the evaluations. Trust the guys you’re developing.

Leave the shotgun approach to the portal behind. Locke is exhibit A. Maybe our QB would’ve been ranked worse than 17th in the big ten this year if he wasn’t around to be 17th. But who cares? 17th vs 19th. Is there really a difference?

[Kerb Hohl]

My hope is we go quality over quantity in the portal this year. Three or four ready made pieces (QB and DL [toughest spots, tbf]) vs 15 outcasts from other power 5 programs please.

Trust the evaluations. Trust the guys you’re developing.

Leave the shotgun approach to the portal behind. Locke is exhibit A. Maybe our QB would’ve been ranked worse than 17th in the big ten this year if he wasn’t around to be 17th. But who cares? 17th vs 19th. Is there really a difference?

The shotgun approach on Locke was for young guys to fill from a vacated coach. They needed a starter (Mordecai) and developmental options (Evers, Locke) since they had nothing of note left (LaCrue/Burkett...lol). I don't think Locke cost anything significant and they literally needed a depth chart.

They now have Mabrey (we think) and Carter Smith or I guess Locke's bro if he truly stays. Of course they're likely going all-in on one guy to start. No ****. If Mabrey leaves they may go after another guy but it's not somebody that would ever think they're starting in 2025.

And also obvious is that unless one of those young guys mentioned is really ready to roll right away - you're an injury away from a disaster season again. But there isn't much we can do about that now.

[midranger]

I’m not just talking about QB, and I recall the situation.

We’ve had similar approaches to WR and LB the past two years with similar middling to terrible results.

The best guys transferred with Fick from Cincy.

We should've taken those 4 dudes and pooled the rest of the money for 1 QB each year. Locke, Lacrue, whatever. if your backup QB is that bad, you ain't going anywhere anyway if the #1 goes down.

[MVP2110]

Read on Twitter

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[Kerb Hohl]

I’m not just talking about QB, and I recall the situation.

We’ve had similar approaches to WR and LB the past two years with similar middling to terrible results.

The best guys transferred with Fick from Cincy.

We should've taken those 4 dudes and pooled the rest of the money for 1 QB each year. Locke, Lacrue, whatever. if your backup QB is that bad, you ain't going anywhere anyway if the #1 goes down.

I'm not privy to the inner salaries of NIL, but from my understanding, Mordecai was a reasonable get, no?

Did Evers and Locke get legitimate packages to come to Wisconsin or was it just, "your previous programs kicked you out, after 2023 the QB job is wide open, here's our standard NIL package that every single player gets" ? I would assume it's the latter. I don't know the details, but I would assume they did not rob from getting a better QB than Mordecai just so they could get Evers and Locke.

[midranger]

I don’t know specifics either. I think it’s fair to assume that EVERYONE is getting paid something. And QBs are getting more than any other position.

I would almost guarantee that Locke and Evers didn’t get $0 in the portal.

[Kerb Hohl]

I don’t know specifics either. I think it’s fair to assume that EVERYONE is getting paid something. And QBs are getting more than any other position.

I would almost guarantee that Locke and Evers didn’t get $0 in the portal.

Right...but probably not too substantial so as not to get a better QB. I think the opportunity of a flashy coordinator + a wide open QB job probably made it so it was minimal. And they simply needed QBs in the room.

I'm kind of with you on the "all-in" approach, and given their depth chart, that's probably just how it's going to go. Other positions, yeah, trust your development behind these guys.

But if so, we're a QB injury away from 3 wins and Fickell possibly getting canned is the other side of said argument.

[midranger]

Wasn’t the difference between TVD and Cam Ward like a million bucks?

Every 50k helps. Waste 50k each on Evers and Locke and 100k each on Lowery and Pius and 25k-50k on a smattering of other crappy WRs and LBs and boom… you’re starting TVD.

I’m hopeful for the HS recruiting of this staff. Gotta be cheaper to keep the guys you have. Let’s go that route from here on out as much as possible.

[Kerb Hohl]

Wasn’t the difference between TVD and Cam Ward like a million bucks?

Every 50k helps. Waste 50k each on Evers and Locke and 100k each on Lowery and Pius and 25k-50k on a smattering of other crappy WRs and LBs and boom… you’re starting TVD.

I’m hopeful for the HS recruiting of this staff. Gotta be cheaper to keep the guys you have. Let’s go that route from here on out as much as possible.

Evers and Locke were once the favorite players of fans (the backup QB with flashy potential) but now we've retconned to decide that they should've just gone wildcat if Cam Ward got hurt and not bother with trying for a pass rush. Sure, whatever.

I agree with the overall take that once we get Fickell's recruits to upper classmen, we can funnel spending to major positions of need. But the roster was a dumpster. If their average QBs didn't get hurt, people might be happy with Fickell.

[midranger]

Meh, by all accounts, we could’ve kept the guys from our defensive front 7 from 2023 who transferred out for minimal investment. They weren’t great by any means, but they were probably better than the (8-9?) guys we replaced them with. Pass rush certainly got worse.

Anyway, maybe we should’ve tried wildcat rather than Locke.

I certainly would have rather rolled with
A. Ward
B. Wildcat

Rather than

A. TVD
B. Locke

[Turk Nowitzki]

lol he saw Locke enter the portal and immediately came back

Read on Twitter

[midranger]

Good news gang.

[MVP2110]

That's awesome news