On Sunday morning before the NFL day started, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Portrykus broke the news that the Wisconsin Badgers’ quarterback Jack Coan suffered a significant foot injury that will put him out indefinitely. This is disappointing, yet not back-breaking, news for Wisconsin. Coan is a good quarterback. Like most Badgers quarterbacks, he is better than people give him credit for. It appears that he will not be behind the center against Illinois in two weeks.

You never want to see a player get injured, but some Badgers fans see this is as a window of opportunity. Graham Mertz is the best quarterback prospect that Wisconsin brought in throughout the years of Alvarez, Chryst, Bielema, and Andersen. This is his time to shine. People will need to temper their expectations obviously. Even if Mertz lights it up in game one, this doesn’t mean that he will be a Heisman candidate this year. It is hard not to get excited about him though. Badgers fans have been waiting for him, but this will still be a learning curve for Wisconsin’s quarterback.

In two Saturdays, Wisconsin will have a brand new quarterback, new running back, and a new number one wide receiver. That is a lot of change for an offense. It is a good thing they’re playing Illinois Week One who will be a challenge, but not like they’re playing Ohio State. Wisconsin will need to lean on their defense. Badgers return their defensive line and secondary with some experienced guys taking over at linebacker. This defense improved fastly from 2018 last year, and there is good reason to believe they can be successful again this season.

We’ll see what Coan’s foot injury means for the remainder of the season. There is no report if he’s going to be out for the season or just multiple weeks. If it’s the latter, it will be fascinating to see what happens if Mertz plays well early this season.

Charlie.