Luke Fickell identifies what stood out about Tyler Van Dyke as a transfer quarterback

The embattled former Miami Hurricane quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is the new signal caller at Wisconsin, and judging by Luke Fickell’s comments, the fresh start was a huge positive for TVD.

Van Dyke stuck it out down in Miami through a coaching change and some tough seasons by program standards. His own injuries throughout the years didn’t help, and eventually, after three seasons starting and four overall, he decided to move on to a new school for year No. 5.

So far this offseason, there are few complaints from his new team, Wisconsin, as the veteran Van Dyke has come in and handled his business like a pro. Fickell said as much when asked about the new Badger QB at Big Ten Media Days.

“Well, Tyler Van Dyke, I could say a lot of great things about Tyler,” shared Fickell. “I think the greatest thing is… Tyler has walked in and embraced everything with our program, understood what he was walking into year one, the ups and the downs, the things that we needed from him.”

Fickell continued his praise of Van Dyke the person, especially his maturity in embracing the circumstances at Wisconsin.

“He’s got a humility behind himself when he walked in the door that he was willing and understood that he was going to have to earn everything. He 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. I understand what his goals were individually. He knew that there were things that he needed to continue to grow to do, and he had experienced an incredible amount of adversity in his three years of starting down at Miami.”

As noted, Van Dyke sat driver’s seat for a turbulent handful of years down at Miami. But Luke Fickell likes that about Van Dyke, that he knows how to bear down and fight through some adversity.

“For me, if you said, What’s the greatest thing that you liked when you were identifying Tyler Van Dyke, I would say all the adversity that 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 downs, and be able to continue to stand tall and have the confidence to continue to play and to play at the level which he expects to play.”

With all that experience in Van Dyke’s past, he’s had little trouble handling the adversities of a mere transfer. Fickell is seeing him excel and only expects further growth.

“He’s done a phenomenal job, and I expect him to continue to grow in his leadership role as we enter this next 39 days,” said the Wisconsin coach.