Alex Hornibrook is a a key part of Wisconsin’s offense. He had a solid year in 2017, but what do you think he can do in 2018?
Wisconsin is expected to have a high-powered offense thanks to Jonathan Taylor and an offensive line returning five starters from a year ago. Alex Hornibrook isn’t getting as much love though. Even the receiving core is getting more attention than the guy who’s going to be delivering the passes.
Hornibrook isn’t the kind of quarterback that needs to put up big numbers for his team to win. In fact, he’s the complete opposite. His numbers were often disappointing, or straight-up bad, but the Badgers still found a way to win when he started. A lot. Hornibrook showed some flashes against Miami in the Orange Bowl too. If he’s able to play even close to that level in 2018, his numbers could sky-rocket.
Related Story: Player Spotlight - Alex Hornibrook
Passing yards
2017 stat: 2,644
2018 prediction: 2,950
Hornibrook should finish just shy of 3,000 passing yards on the season. He’s not going to need to do much throwing in this offense, but he could certainly improve on his 188 yards per game from 2017. Hornibrook only broke the 250-yard mark in one game last year, against BYU.
The coaching staff will have more trust in Hornibrook and there will be more weapons on the perimeter. Plus, it’s likely teams will load the box against Jonathan Taylor, forcing Hornibrook to win games through the air. The offense may not desire to win with Hornibrook’s arm, but it’s a strategy they’ll have to learn to live with against some opponents. I think Hornibrook is up to the task.
Touchdown passes
2017 stat: 25
2018 prediction: 31
Not only will Hornibrook have more passing yards from an increase in pass attempts, but he’ll see his touchdown passes jump up too. Of course, we shouldn’t expect him to throw for four touchdowns a game like he did in the Orange Bowl, but more than what he had last year, under two a game, is a number that can certainly come up.
Wisconsin’s offense should score more points in 2018. Everything suggests the offensive struggles, what few there were, it experienced last season should no longer exist. Higher scoring obviously means more touchdowns, and Hornibrook will get his share. This is actually a safe guess for a total. If he remains healthy and the offensive is any bit as good as we expect, 31 touchdowns should be reached with ease.
Interceptions
2017 stat: 15
2018 prediction: 9
This is the stat that everybody cares about. Hornibrook threw more than one interception in four games last year. In 2018, that shouldn’t happen more than once. It’s likely he’s going to be throwing more, but he should also be much better. Some of his interceptions were simply bad throws that he should have known better than to try.
Nine interceptions might still be considered a lot for Hornibrook, since he won’t be airing it out like some other quarterbacks. But it’ll be a significant improvement on last season’s total. Throwing less interceptions will mean more scoring and yards too, compounding onto Hornibrook’s totals in those regards.
Hornibrook showed signs that he was turning things around late in the season. Since his three-interception game against Iowa, he had an 8-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio the rest of the year. His performance in the last four games, including a zero-touchdown, two-interception game against Ohio State, salvaged what was an abysmal 17-12 ratio to that point in the season.
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Hornibrook should be able to make big strides in his game in 2018, and the Badgers offense could explode because of it.