re: There’s speculation that Cam Rising is not cleared and will not start against Florida

Richardson sucked

quote:

---

They now have a QB who was a bad enough passer that even WISCONSIN didn’t want him.

---

I know what you're getting at with "even WISCONSIN," but quick reminder that Wisconsin today is not your traditional, old boys club of alumni that are stuck in their ways of a power-run game w/ the fullback. Luke Fickell hired Phil Longo and, honestly, it speaks that Fickell/Longo didn't even try to keep Mertz, who led a wide-open attack in HS. Instead, they went out and got three former four-stars in the portal.

Mertz has his issues - tends to panic in the pocket, lose his footwork and it leads to errant, back-breaking throws. His pocket presence was bad and it cost Wisconsin games in his three years. That said, it cuts both ways - the previous Wisconsin regime did him no favors. At no point in his career did Mertz have a QB coach and he had two OCs that had never called plays. Time-and-time again, Wisconsin would run into stacked boxes on first and second down then put the ball in Mertz's hands on third and long to try making a play.

In the end, fresh start could do Mertz some good + I hope he does well, but he also had the same issues year-after-year. Will be interesting to watch.