There were a couple of players that should have walked on Senior Night but didn't. Billy Edwards Jr. and Preston Zachman should have been part of the celebration when Wisconsin took on their final home game of the season versus Illinois but they didn't. Both had it in their minds to pursue medical redshirts and play for one more season. Both also were thinking about transferring.
Edwards has already decided to play elsewhere next year, with a medical redshirt secured, and now starting safety Preston Zachman will follow suit. He's actually going to be entering his seventh season of college football, as he is one of the rare players who used a regular redshirt, a COVID bonus year, and now a medical redshirt with four other playing years sprinkled in.
In 2020, as a true freshman, while it's listed as a redshirt year on his Wisconsin bio, it ended up being a free year due to COVID. He then didn't play as a sophomore, getting his regular redshirt. He played from 2022 to 2024. This year was supposed to be his final season as a graduate student, and then he played three games and was injured for the year. He's eligible and was granted a medical redshirt.
Preston Zachman was granted a seventh year and now he's off to the transfer portal
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Zachman plans to enter the portal when it opens on January 2nd. This is the most head-scratching part of it all. It was in the press conference of that Illinois week that Luke Fickell indicated that his staff was working with the NCAA and Zachman about the medical redshirt, hoping it would come through, so he could help Wisconsin in 2026.
It did come through, and yet Zachman decided to move on instead of playing his final year at Wisconsin. It's a tough break for Fickell as he's already rebuilding pretty much the entire roster, and now he needs to replace both safeties as Austin Brown and Owen Arnett have graduated.