Wisconsin Football Coach Shares High Praise For New QB, But Can He Save The Sinking Ship?: WATCH

Luke Fickell believes the Wisconsin Badgers might have finally solved the team's QB issues.

As Wisconsin fans know, the Fickell era has been an utter disaster in Madison so far. He's 13-13 and broke the program's 22-year bowl streak in 2024 after going 5-7.

However, it hasn't been all his fault. QB Tanner Mordecai missed a handful of games in 2023 with an injury, and Tyler Van Dyke only played two full games in 2024 after suffering a season-ending injury on the opening drive against Alabama.

Backup Braedyn Locke was clearly not that guy, and with Fickell's seat getting hot, he seems to think he has a solution under center.

Will Wisconsin's QB play improve in 2025? (Photo by Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Luke Fickell pours praise on Billy Edwards.

Former Maryland QB Billy Edwards transferred to Madison this past offseason, and he's been the unquestioned QB1 since stepping foot on campus. That's a change of pace from the previous two seasons when there were battles deep into camp.

Fickell told Jim Rome the following, in part, during a Tuesday interview:

"Being through what he has been through, he's a leader since the day he walked in the door…This year, walking in the door it was, 'Hey, Billy you're our guy. You're coming here, you're our guy. You got to start your leadership right now. You have to embrace everyone. They have to follow you.' And he's done a phenomenal job at that. And then building some guys behind it. If you look at us the last two years, unfortunately, has missed the majority of the season."

You can watch Fickell's full comments below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

For the sake of Fickell's job security, he better hope Billy Edwards is the answer at QB. Fans have grown incredibly frustrated and impatient with the Fickell experiment.

Again, it's not all his fault. The injuries were outside his control, but not having any QB depth is certainly a problem you can pin directly on the coach.

The buck stops with the man running the show, and that's Luke Fickell. 

The Wisconsin Badgers need much better QB play this season if the team wants any shot at success. (Photo by Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Fickell also addressed bringing in Jeff Grimes to run the offense, and returning to the old ways of "physicality" and toughness.

The air raid system was clearly a total failure. Anyone who was tortured by watching Wisconsin play football the past two years knows that's true.

All eyes in the state are on the Badgers and Fickell to see if they can get things turned around. If not, he's going to possibly be searching for a new job instead of just a new QB. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.