Prior to transferring to Wisconsin, quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. spent plenty of time playing for Mike Locksley at Maryland. From 2022 to 2024, Locksley was Edwards' head coach. While he initially played for Wake Forest in 2021, Edwards really earned a name for himself as a gunslinging college passer last year for the Terrapins. Win or lose, Locksley loves to have his quarterbacks throw the ball.
In the lead-up to Maryland's road game at Wisconsin, Locksley answered his "elephant in the room" type of question regarding Edwards. Though the two men have a great deal of familiarity with one another, this is a totally different situation for both. Edwards is playing in Jeff Grimes' offense for Luke Fickell, while Locksley is doing his best to save his job at Maryland with the help of Malik Washington.
Here is what Locksley had to say at the podium about potentially facing his former player in Week 4.
Mike Locksley discusses the possibility of having to face Billy Edwards Jr.
The biggest, and only, advantage Locksley sees from this is knowing Edwards' overall mental makeup.
"I mean, from a mental makeup, sure. I spent a lot of time with Billy Edwards Jr., and it has been well-documented. But the mental makeup from a quarterback, if he were to play, yeah, we know that part about Billy, but we also thought enough of Billy that he was our starter here and did some good things for us a year ago as a starter. So that's no knock against that, but our preparation won't be about Billy and his strengths. It's about Wisconsin's strengths."
Locksley made it a point to say that Wisconsin has many other good players outside of just Edwards.
"There’s a lot more people than just about Billy and Terps. They got a really good team and this will be a great opportunity for us to measure our team against a Big Ten blue blood ... on the road.”
Here is a clip of Locksley touching on the prospects of facing his former quarterback during Week 4.
Mike Locksley on whether familiarity helps to prepare for Wisconsin QB Billy Edwards Jr.: “There’s a lot more people than just about Billy & Terps. They got a really good team & this will be a great opportunity for us to measure our team against a Big Ten blue blood on the road” pic.twitter.com/lLQ1dxb1Hz
— Inside the Black & Gold (@Insideblackgold) September 16, 2025
Let it be known that neither Maryland or Wisconsin know if Edwards is healthy enough to play yet...
What would it mean if Billy Edwards Jr. is unable to play vs. Maryland?
There are two ways to look at this. If Edwards is fully healthy enough to start, he should. It has nothing to do with Maryland being his former team, but he may give the Badgers their best chance at winning games during Big Ten play. Danny O'Neil might be able to win a few, but Edwards was tabbed as the Badgers' Week 1 starter for a reason. However, if he is not fully healthy, then he should not be playing.
This is because the Badgers may have bigger fish to fry than trying to prove a point and beat Maryland with its not-so-fully-healthy former starting quarterback. In short, O'Neil might be good enough to beat the Terps, should Malik Washington look like a freshman vs. the Wisconsin defense. That might be a bit of a stretch, but Wisconsin is favored to win this game at Camp Randall in Week 4.
To be totally honest, the last thing Wisconsin needs to do is force Edwards out there before he is fully healthy just to prove a point, that he made the right call of flipping Big Ten allegiances this past offseason. Wisconsin needs to go 4-5 in Big Ten play to go bowling. The Badgers might be able to hand Maryland its first loss of the season on Saturday, without Edwards even taking a snap for them.
Locksley may have hinted at that, based on how highly he spoke of Wisconsin's other players of note.