Luke Fickell on QB2: ‘I don’t know that we’ll ever designate who is the No. 2’

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With the season just days away, the Wisconsin Badgers have yet to name their backup quarterback to Colton Joseph. And it doesn’t sound like they will ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Throughout fall camp, the Badgers have seen Louisville transfer Deuce Adams and four-star true freshman Ryan Hopkins battle for the No. 2 quarterback role, with the latter pushing the former to earn the spot. It felt like Adams’s job was to lose coming out of the spring, but Hopkins impressed and looked better than expected.

That carried over to the fall, and he’s not making it easy on the coaching staff. While the Badgers will have a depth chart out on Sunday for the game, it’s unclear whether they’ll name a backup quarterback. And head coach Luke Fickell even feels they may never do so.

“No, no, [we haven’t decided on a No. 2 QB]. ”I think that right now those guys are all taking reps. Obviously, Colton’s taking the reps with the ones. I think today we still continue to have both those guys rep with the twos. That’s another one of those things. I don’t know that we’ll ever designate a whole lot of who is the No. 2.

“We’ve all seen this in the past. I think the opportunities are still going to be there for those guys to compete on a daily basis. We want to give both those guys opportunities and be ready. The nice thing is it’s not like we’ve had in the past where truly you’re switching some versions of what guys can do based on who’s in there with the ones and with the twos and even with the third group or who’s rolling in there on the 1Bs or 2Bs. So those guys have been able to be able to continue to do the same things. And I think that gives them the chance to grow. And if we get to that point and we got to make some of those decisions, we’ll have to make it.”

Wisconsin will likely have an ‘OR’ designation between Hopkins and Adams on their two-deep for game day, but it’s a good sign that the true freshman has already earned the coaching staff’s trust this early into his career.

I’ve said this a few times, but if it truly came down to it early in the season, I do think Wisconsin would turn to Adams with his edge in experience. But the Badgers are obviously hoping they won’t have to make that decision at all after dealing with one too many quarterback injuries over the past few years.

For now, it seems this battle might carry out into the season.

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