The Badgers are set to add nearly 50 new faces to their roster this season by way of the transfer portal and freshman class. And while the chaos of the last two weeks has settled, things are just getting started for head coach Luke Fickell.
As he begins to shape his team ahead of spring practice, the head coach talked to reporters about the transfer portal, and explained how everyone, both players and coaches, had some big decisions to make.
For Fickell and Wisconsin, it was all about finding their starting quarterback, and from the jump they knew they guy they wanted.
"We felt from a long time of doing this that he was our 1A," Fickell said of Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph. "Obviously we had to continue to recruit others just in case, but he was definitely the guy we pinpointed for quite a while that this is the guy we wanted to lead our program."
"He fits us. He understands what a team looks like, understands his role is to lead not only an offense, but a program as well."
Badgers have a lot to be excited about after landing their top choice in the portal
Wisconsin hasn't had much luck at the quarterback position in recent years, mostly due to injury, but now Fickell feels like he finally has his guy. By all accounts, Joseph is great fit on, as well as off the field for Wisconsin.
The Old Dominion transfer threw for 2,624 yards and ran for another 1,007 this past season, and will now be tasked to transform a Badger offense that has been fairly anemic for most of Fickell's tenure.
While the signings of Tyler Van Dyke or Billy Edwards weren't considered poor at the time, there seems to be a different feeling around Joseph. Maybe the desperation is starting to eat at fans, but the dual-threat QB already has them buzzing for what this offense could potentially look like in 2026.