Wisconsin Badgers quarterback change to Ryan Hopkins, Digi Mart USA News: The Wisconsin Badgers are finally making a change at quarterback, as Ryan Hopkins will make his first career start against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and appears to have the green light for Wisconsin’s final four games of the season.
The Badgers, sitting at 5-3, have really struggled to throw the ball with starter Colton Joseph, who has completed under 56 percent of his passes this season and has gone for fewer than 100 passing yards in three straight outings. The roughest performance came last weekend against the Iowa Hawkeyes, when Joseph completed just 5 of 14 passes before being benched for Hopkins in the fourth quarter.
Coming out of that game, Hopkins remains the starter, which a majority of fans supported in the publisher’s weekly Reacts poll. Wisconsin now faces Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue and Minnesota in its final four games, which should give the team an accurate look at Hopkins before a key quarterback decision for the 2027 season.
Just a week ago, reports indicated that Wisconsin was negotiating with Colton Joseph for the 2027 season, but that now appears unlikely. The publisher links the decision to a difficult transfer portal evaluation: Joseph never improved the way the Badgers wanted, as accuracy and footwork issues were evident from the offseason and carried through the year.
Joseph was a work in progress coming into the season, with passing inconsistencies dating to his time at Old Dominion, though his rushing ability was expected to provide a quality floor in the Big Ten. Still, Wisconsin’s offense has struggled considerably, and the move to Hopkins appears to be a much-needed change at the end of the season.
With jobs at stake, Wisconsin needs to see whether Hopkins can be its starter next season or whether it will need to evaluate options outside the program. At the very least, Hopkins looked confident as a passer last week while dealing with some rookie mistakes.
If he can build on that, Wisconsin has a chance to finish the season strong.
The Badgers take on Rutgers on Saturday as 19.5-point favorites, according to FanDuel. The publisher argues that this is another missed quarterback evaluation for Wisconsin, one that should raise significant questions about process in the offseason.
