Luke Fickell reveals why he wanted Tanner Mordecai to be his quarterback

It’s hard to find a quarterback that has had a more successful career than Tanner Mordecai. That experience attracted new Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell to the veteran QB after entering the transfer portal.

Mordecai was hand-picked by Fickell, and in the Badgers’ new Air-Raid offense, the college football journeyman is going to throw the ball all over the place in 2023. Joining Andy Staples on On3’s podcast, Fickell broke down the reasons why he decided to bring Mordecai in as his tenure’s initial starting quarterback.

“We had to prepare for him [at Cincinnati], we played him the past two years,” Fickell said. “One game is a small sample size and we were very good against him because we sacked him eight or nine times. But in the preparation and the respect that I had for everything that he had done, even from afar watching how he grew and took some leadership and took teams and things like this that I had expected out of that program. Obviously, there was a big reason why.”

Last season SMU, Mordecai threw for 3,524 yards on a 64.9 percent clip. He also ranked eighth nationally with 33 touchdown passes while only throwing 10 interceptions on 444 attempts.

Before that, he spent time breaking records for SMU. In 2021’s 77-63 win over Houston, he set AAC single-game records with nine passing touchdowns and a rushing score to bring his total to 10 toucdowns in one game.

The Waco, Texas, native also holds SMU’s career record with 72 touchdown throws, including a school record 39 in 2021. He is also a two-time Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist at SMU after spending the first three years of his college career at Oklahoma. Though, he was mostly a backup in Norman before portaling to SMU.

While Mordecai was the crowning jewel in Fickell’s 2023 transfer portal class — as a whole, the group ranked in the top 10 in On3’s transfer portal team rankings, coming in at No. 8. Former Mater Dei star C.J. Williams transferred over from USC, joining Bryson Green, Quincy Burrough and Will Pauling as the incoming wide receiving group through the portal.

They’ll all make their Wisconsin debut alongside Fickell when the Badgers host Buffalo inside Camp Randall Stadium. With Mordecai’s arm leading the charge, Wisconsin has jumped out as 24-point betting favorites, according to Caesars Sportsbook. After that, they’re on the road for a tricky matchup agaisnt Washington State.