The Badgers lost one of their underclassmen quarterbacks midway through spring ball.
The Wisconsin Badgers lost their first transfer of the spring cycle, as redshirt sophomore quarterback Nick Evers announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal over the weekend.
Evers, a four-star quarterback in the Class of 2022, came to Wisconsin last offseason as a quarterback oozing with potential, but that never materialized on the field as the signal-caller was entrenched behind others on the depth chart, who acclimated quicker to coordinator Phil Longo’s offense.
Evers joined the Badgers alongside super-senior Tanner Mordecai and fellow redshirt freshman Braedyn Locke last offseason, and spent the majority of the spring working with the No. 3 offense alongside Myles Burkett and Marshall Howe as he fell behind early on while trying to grasp the playbook.
This offseason, Wisconsin hit the transfer portal again, adding Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke, who has competed with Locke for the starting job this spring, with both quarterbacks taking up the reps with the top two teams.
Evers seemingly took steps forward, but still didn’t earn any reps with the first-team offense, with offensive coordinator Phil Longo praising his progress, while stressing the importance of him getting to where they want him to be.
“Nick definitely is a different product right now than he was last year, and you would hope that would be,” Longo said on April 5th. “You’d see the progress over the course of a year, and we are.
“He’s doing some things better. He’s making some better decisions. Obviously, he’s athletic, so he’s been making some plays with his legs as well. So that’s what we want. We got to keep grinding now with him to make more progress and get him to where we would want him to be last year.”
Now, midway through spring ball, Evers is deciding to transfer once again, and will head to his third school in as many years with hopes of a clearer path to playing time.
What led to the decision to transfer now?
Opportunity
As noted above, Evers had grown from last year to this year, continuing to show some flashes, both with his feet and arm, but still was clearly behind Braedyn Locke and Tyler Van Dyke in the quarterback competition.
With Locke and Evers being on the same trajectory as redshirt sophomores, the path for playing time was becoming increasingly unclear for the latter.
Add to the equation true freshman Mabrey Mettauer, who had been splitting reps with Evers this spring, and had earned more opportunities over the past week, and the quarterback room had become too crowded for Evers, who was inconsistent when seeing the field in limited action over his two offseasons in Madison.
Moving forward, Evers will likely look to find a Power 5 opportunity where his skillset can be utilized, even if it’s a situational package role, with the hopes of competing for a starting job over the next two seasons.
Evers’s potential is clearly there, but the question now becomes how quickly it can be realized and where he’ll get the reps to grow in order to become more consistent as a passer.
The timing is the only surprise in the equation, as Evers had the chance to potentially move on in the winter to find a new club for spring ball, or stay with Wisconsin through the spring in hopes of getting more practice film.
But, the quarterback felt it was in his best interests to move forward as the spring portal officially opens on Tuesday.