Luke Fickell and Wisconsin have found their quarterback in the transfer portal, once again, this time it's Colton Joseph from Old Dominion. He's one of the most explosive quarterbacks on the market and was Fickell's primary choice to lead the Badgers next year. They prioritized him from the moment the portal opened two days ago and convinced him to sign with Wisconsin before Joseph took any other visits. That's a huge deal.
Here's 3 reasons why he's going to fit what Wisconsin wants to do offensively next season.
1. Colton Joseph has experience in a similar offense to Jeff Grimes
Joseph made his name with his cannon arm, which we will get to in a minute, but he's a true dual-threat quarterback. He ran for 1,007 yards last season at Old Dominion. He was the Sun Belt's fourth-leading rusher as a quarterback in 2025. This is important as Grimes wants to have as many options as possible. Grimes builds an offense around a power running game but needs a quarterback who can pull the ball out, hurl it downfield, or tuck it and run.
Joseph already has a knack for the play-action pass and the ability to read the edge coming off the defense when it comes to an extra wrinkle on the options.
2. Colton Joseph has proven durable
You literally can never tell with injuries, and many of them end up being fluky, but Luke Fickell is desperate for a durable quarterback. Joseph, in his two years of starting quarterback experience, has proven just that. He's run for 1,654 yards in his career, been tackled a ton both in front of the line of scrimmage and behind.
3. Colton Joseph is a rhythm quarterback and can make all the throws
Related: Wisconsin just landed biggest transfer portal commit yet for Luke Fickell
Joseph has a cannon for an arm, but he mostly lives where Grimes wants him to live, in those intermediate throws. While he can take a deep shot, he often gets chunk yardage with his arm, but he still can sling it over the middle.
This is also important for the Grimes offense. It's built around the running back gaining 3-5 yards on first and/or second down, and the quarterback getting third-down plays on third-and-short or even third-and-intermediate. Joseph excels at that.
There are more than three reasons, but here are the three to start. He's a good one for Wisconsin and the best quarterback Fickell has added since being here.