Luke Fickell gushes about how Tyler Van Dyke has handled transition to Wisconsin

QB Tyler Van Dyke was the most significant offseason addition for Wisconsin. However, his commitment has meant more than just what he brings on the field according to Luke Fickell.

Fickell spoke about Van Dyke during his time at the podium at Big Ten Media Days from Indianapolis on Tuesday. As he put it, there’s more than one aspect that he can point to when it comes to the Badgers’ newest quarterback.

“Tyler Van Dyke – I can say a lot of great things about Tyler,” said Fickell.

That starts with Van Dyke’s approach since arriving in Madison. He hasn’t assumed anything and has instead accepted all that comes with joining Wisconsin’s building. That has allowed him to fit in well early with his next team.

“I think the greatest thing is Tyler has walked in and embraced everything with our program – understood what he was walking into in year one, the ups and the downs, the things that we needed from him. He has got a humility behind himself when he walked in the door,” said Fickell. “He was willing and understood that he was going to have to earn everything, understood that it was going to be a battle. There weren’t going to be keys that were just handed to him.”

“I think the greatest thing about Tyler is his ability to say, ‘I need to refocus,'” Fickell added. “I understand what his goals were individually. He knew that there were things he needed to continue to grow to do.”

Fickell also appreciates the experience, the good ones and bad ones, that Van Dyke brings with him from his career in Coral Gables. After four years with the Hurricanes, specifically the last three, he has been through a lot that Fickell wants from him as a veteran.

“He experienced an incredible amount of adversity in his three years of starting down at Miami,” said Fickell. “For me, if you said what’s the greatest thing that you like when you were identifying Tyler Van Dyke? I would say all of the adversity he had been through, the ability for him to handle three different coordinators. The ability for him to go from the east coast down to south Florida, win a starting position, have the ups and the down, be able to stand tall, and have the confidence to continue to play and play at the level which you expect him to play.”

Van Dyke has acclimated well thus far over the past few months with the Badgers. Now, with kickoff just over a month out, Fickell expects that to be a major factor heading into their fall.

“He has done a phenomenal job,” said Fickell. “I expect him to continue to grow in his leadership role as we enter this next 39 days.”