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6 | www.maplestreetpress.com
BADGERS POSITION PROFILES
Maple Street Press | 7
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There was a point in time where barring any unforeseen improvement, redshirt sophomore Jon Budmayr was going to be the man under center for Wisconsin when the Badgers open the 2011 regular season under the Camp Randall lights September 1 against Nevada-Las Vegas.
Wisconsin improved all right, about as much as any college team did during the offseason.
In three seasons as quarterback for North Carolina State, Russell Wilson, the runner up for ACC Player of the Year in 2010, completed 57.8 percent of his passes for 8,545 yards. No quarterback in the ACC has thrown more touchdown
passes than Wilson, as his 76 touchdown passes is 26 more than Miami quarterback Jacory Harris.
Wilson set an NCAA record for throwing 379 passes over two years without an interception, was the school’s third all-time leading passer, never lost to in-state rival North Carolina, was voted the team’s most valuable player last season and was the MVP after helping his team win the Champs Sports Bowl and get to nine wins for the first time since 2002. And he’s coming to Wisconsin because he wanted to play baseball?
He was released from his N.C. State scholarship when head coach Tom O’Brien became frustrated with Wilson dividing his commitments between football and baseball. O’Brien wanted his quarterback to participate in spring football practice, but Wilson was busy participating in the Colorado Rockies’ spring training camp. After he spring training, he joined the team’s minor league system and never went back to Raleigh, NC.
Deciding he wanted to play football this fall, Wilson vis-ited Auburn May 24 and Wisconsin June 7-8. When Wilson got to Madison, he was welcomed to a lit up Camp Randall Stadium and the Jumbotron playing a replay of Wisconsin’s primetime win over No.1 Ohio State last October. Talk about a selling point.
Wilson is a one-year rental for Wisconsin, and his abili-ties will give Budmayr another year of seasoning. A college scout described Wilson as, “an accurate thrower that puts the ball in the right spot, throws a good deep ball and has good
decision making with knowing when to throw the ball away and when to take a risk.”
There are questions, as well, like how is Wilson’s arm going to be after throwing 40 times a game last season and playing a whole summer of minor league baseball? How quickly will he pick up Wisconsin’s pro-style offense after playing with an offense that ran a lot of shotgun and one-back formations to take advantage of Wilson’s athleticism? Time will tell, but the Badgers have a quarterback with winning experience, something the other four quarterbacks on the roster don’t have.
The starting job is Wilson’s to lose and with redshirt junior Curt Phillips missing the season with another ACL injury, that means Budmayr will be the back-up for the second year in a row. Budmayr has done a lot in his young football career with his 6-foot frame, particularly
overcoming two shoulder injuries to the point where one would never realize his troubled past by watching him throw. Still, he was blunt after finishing his third spring with Wisconsin, saying that while he’s grown mentally with the playbook, he’s still nowhere close where he needs to be.
Behind Wilson and Budmayr, the Badgers will have redshirt freshman Joe Brennan and freshman Joel Stave. Brennan, who threw 18 TDs his senior year for Camden Catholic (NJ) High, has been progressing throughout his two seasons, but still needs more time after interceptions and inconsistency plagued him throughout spring, culminating with a 3-of-17, 42-yard, one-interception spring game.
Stave enrolled early so he could participate in spring practices. Throwing for 5,094 yards and 41 touchdowns and added 12 rushing touchdowns in his Whitnall (Wis.) High career, Stave turned down a full scholarship offer from Western Michigan to take a preferred walk-on opportunity at Wisconsin.
Bielema called it, “a bonus for us there at the end in the recruiting world,” as Wisconsin will pay for three years of his tuition after Stave pays for the first two. Described as a quarterback who uses his natural size (6-foot-5) to throw the ball well, accurately and on target, the spring was Stave’s first experience with a pro-style offense after playing in a spread formation the past four years.
Ironically, he was the quarterback that had the best spring game, completing 8-of-15 passes for 77 yards and no turnovers.
It’s not going to be easy to replace Tolzien, who went 21-5 as a starter and holds school records for career completion percentage at .681 (min. 300 att.) and a career QB efficiency rating of 153.2 (min. 300 att.). With Wilson in the mix, however, the Badgers might have found something just as good. —Benjamin WorgullMSP
QUARTERBACKS
Jon Budmayr will likely be the backup once again.
1979.9 191
8.7
2469.8
27211.3
1275.1
26012.4
20113.4
23012.1
1597.6
2239.7
1529.5
2057.9
1306.8
Wisconsin Opponent Def Avg
Passing by Game
2312
52.21436.202
87.0
7657
75.078310.3
10
165.9
7856
71.884510.8
03
155.1
6347
74.65558.810
153.8
3630
83.32677.4151
277.6
AttCompPctYardsYds/AttTDIntRating
10 20 30 40 50G 10203040 G
#86 YPA#109 Rating
#5 YPA#4 Rating
#4 YPA#12 Rating
#21 YPA#35 Rating
#1 YPA#1 Rating
Passing by Field Position
UNLV
SJSU
ASUPeay
MSU
Minn OSU
Iowa Pur
Ind
Mich
NW
TCU
STATISTICAL TRENDS
WI and Opp passing yards plotted vertically. Bubble size equals Yds/Att.
WI and Opp Def Avg Rating plotted vertically. Bubble size equals Yds/Att. Nat'l rank listed beneath plot.
RED ZONE
Russell Wilson exchanges one big letter for another.
2011 ROSTERNo. Player Position HT WT Year
11 Brennan, Joe QB 6-3 199 RS FR
5 Budmayr, Jon QB 6-0 195 RS SO
18 Stave, Joel QB 6-5 212 FR
12 Tice, Nate QB 6-5 231 RS SR
16 Wilson, Russell QB 5-11 201 SR
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSPASSING G Comp Att Pct Yds TD Int Eff Yds/G
Russell Wilson 13 308 527 58.4 3563 28 14 127.5 274.1
Jon Budmayr 3 8 10 80.0 134 1 0 225.6 44.7
RUSHING G Att Yds Avg TD Long Yds/G
Russell Wilson 13 143 435 3.0 9 34 33.5
Nate Tice 2 1 17 17.0 1 17 8.5
Jon Budmayr 3 2 1 0.5 0 3 0.3
RECORD BOOK
EFFICIENCY, SEASONRank Player Year Rating
1 Scott Tolzien 2010 165.9
2 Darrell Bevell 1993 155.2
3 John Stocco 2005 150.5
4 Jim Sorgi 2003 148.1
5 John Stocco 2006 143.9
EFFICIENCY, CAREERRank Player Years Rating
1 Scott Tolzien 2008-10 153.2
2 Jim Sorgi 2000-03 141.2
3 John Stocco 2003-06 134.1
4 Darrell Bevell 1992-95 133.9
5 Brooks Bollinger 1999-02 126.9
RECENT EFFICIENCY LEADERSYear Player Rating2010 Scott Tolzien 165.9
2009 Scott Tolzien 143.0
2008 Dustin Sherer 120.7
2007 Tyler Donovan 134.0
2006 John Stocco 143.9
© 2011 MapleStreet Press LLc. All Rights Reserved.