CHICAGO – Wisconsin football head coach Gary Andersen shed some light on the status of the quarterback battle currently taking place this summer, confirming it was Curt Phillips and Joel Stave who separated themselves during spring practice from the rest of the gunslingers on the roster.
“We sat down with all the young men when we were first there and gave them a very clear vision that when we sat down in April we would discuss exactly where they’re at, what the situation is and when we came out of it, Curt and Joel came out on top this spring,” Andersen said.
Still, Wisconsin’s coach is not ruling out junior college transfer quarterback Tanner McEvoy from the discussion – saying the redshirt sophomore has just as good a chance as the veterans to earn the starting job.
“We recruited Tanner … He deserves that opportunity because he’s a junior college player with three years left to play,” Andersen said. “Anytime we recruit a junior college player, he’s going to be given the opportunity to walk in fall camp and compete and get reps with the ones and two at times just as every freshman will if he deems himself mentally and physically prepared to be able to be in those situations that he has a chance to help our team.”
McEvoy, who arrived in Madison in May was the victim of a mugging incident early Sunday morning, where it was reported the New Jersey native was jumped by four people and had his iPhone and wallet – among other things – stolen.
Andersen addressed the incident and assured that his JUCO transfer is ready to go for the start of practice on Aug. 5.
“Tanner’s fine,” Andersen said. “He’s back with us now. Expect him to walk into camp full steam ahead and be prepared to compete for that quarterback role.”
What started as a five or six player bout for the starting job under center has been whittled down to three, but Andersen does not know when the winner will be named and did not dismiss the possibility of entering the season with no outright No. 1.
“It will be a three-man race. I have no timeline on it,” Andersen said. “And we may jog out there the first play of the game with two quarterbacks on the field and see what happens from there. So who knows, it will be interesting.”
While uncertainty still surrounds the quarterback position, Andersen held nothing back when asked about fifth-year senior linebacker Chris Borland.
“Chris is the heart and soul of that defense,” Andersen said. “But what Chris does consistently is a lot of people talk about leadership on and off the field and his consistency with his leadership is key. There’s no ups and downs, no really good days or bad days. So tremendous kid, tremendous leader and I believe he’s the best linebacker in the country.”
Borland was one of three Wisconsin players to attend the Big Ten Media Days with his coach and was named to the Big Ten’s watch list that was released Wednesday morning.
Andersen also addressed the state of UW’s backfield that is now a little slimmer with the move of junior Jeffery Lewis from running back to safety on the heels of Reggie Mitchell’s departure from the program earlier this summer.
While Andersen says he is looking for another rusher to step up, he is excited with the skills both bring to the field.
“James and Melvin very complementary to each other, very different in their styles,” Andersen said. “And a lot of [how they are utilized] is going to depend on how those four tight ends come around that allow Melvin and James to possibly be on the field at the same time, which quarterback’s playing, how well the quarterback can hurt you with his legs that’s actually in the game, that matters. But those two packaged together, whether they’re on the field at the same time or separately, cause a lot of problems.”
