With a new transfer quarterback, Wisconsin head football coach Luke Fickell is eager to begin the upcoming NCAA football season and shared his thoughts on what he likes most about the Badgers' fifth-year quarterback. For Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke, entering his fifth and final year, putting together the best season of his college football career this fall, first under Fickell, could be life-altering in terms of carving out a potential NFL career.
However, Van Dyke has yet to top his stellar rookie campaign, which for many, set a standard over the past few seasons, one that Tyler's struggled to meet while playing for three different coaches and three offensive coordinators throughout his time at the University of Miami. Couple those hurdles with a rare leg injury (Morel-Lavallee lesion), Van Dyke's career was met with adversity in more ways than one.
Still, it's how he's responded to that adversity, Tyler's tenacious approach, that coach Luke Fickell says he likes most about Van Dyke. His relentlessness through the good and the bad.
“That's what I love most about him: The ability to see him at a high-high at Miami, then in a low-low, his ability to continue to battle back and grow from all those experiences,” said Luke Fickell, per CBS Sports.
Tyler Van Dyke's redshirt senior year for Wisconsin football
As a redshirted senior for the Wisconsin football team, Van Dyke's had plenty of time to prepare for this momentous opportunity, which was something coach Fickell said he spoke to Tyler about last season, months before the two regrouped at training camp.
“We need to make sure you get back into the mode of being a leader, getting in the mode of understanding what quarterbacks can do for the people that are around them,” Fickell said.
He is adapting to a new system, and his new frame has been an adjustment.
“His first year, starting at Miami, he ran pretty well and he looked different,” Fickell said. “I thought his last two years he looked, you know, more like just a quarterback and a little bit bigger and heavier.”
It's all part of his evolution as a college quarterback. And with a new head coach in Fickell comes a new offensive coordinator in Phil Longo and, of course, a new quarterback competing for Van Dyke's spot.
Longo, while comparing the sophomore quarterback to Van Dyke, spoke to the strengths of each QB.
“Tyler has a huge arm. Tyler can probably fit some things in, triggering a little bit later than maybe Braedyn can,” Longo said, per CBS Sports. “Braedyn can make all the throws; Tyler can probably be a little late on something and fit it in a window because of the arm talent he has. And that challenges Braedyn.”
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