Wisconsin Football: Badgers quarterback hits the transfer portal

Wisconsin was already a little bit thin at the quarterback position with the injury to Chase Wolf, but they are now even thinner as Deacon Hill announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal this weekend.

Hill’s decision to transfer isn’t a huge surprise given the way the 2022 season has gone for him. It appeared Hill would be the backup quarterback after Chase Wolf went down in the preseason but he was surpassed by Freshman Myles Burkett. Additionally, Hill was recruited and worked closely with by former Head Coach Paul Chryst. Given all that, it makes sense that Hill was looking for a fresh start.

Coming out of high school Hill was a very highly-ranked prospect known for his big arm. Hill opted to come to Wisconsin over the likes of UCLA, Kansas State, and Nevada. Given his California ties, it seems likely that Hill will look for somewhere closer to home to play next. Hill will have three years of eligibility remaining to use at his next school.

Wisconsin’s quarterback room already had some issues, but this does add to the mess a bit. Currently, Wisconsin has just three healthy quarterbacks on the roster, two of them Freshman. Thankfully, backup Myles Burkett has shown some promising flashes early in his career to take on the backup role but an injury to Mertz would put a lot on his plate early.

Additionally, the numbers for the quarterback room are a little off-balance. In a perfect world, you’d have a player in every class. Wolf was a part of the 2018 class and Mertz 2019. The Badgers did not take a QB in 2020, and now their 2021 QB is also gone. They did take both Myles Burkett and Marshall Howe in the 2022 class but have not signed a quarterback in 2023 despite a plethora of offers. That is a little off-balance, and it’ll be interesting to see if Wisconsin is able to land a quarterback in 2023 or if they hit the portal to try and balance out these numbers some.