Wisconsin's Graham Mertz will enter the transfer portal after four years with the program, the quarterback shared on his Twitter account. Mertz started 32 games with the Badgers over the past three years, but will search for a new home following a coaching change from Paul Chryst to Luke Fickell. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Mertz was a game-changing recruit when he committed to the program in 2019. The Mission, Kansas, native ranked as the No. 65 player and No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2019, ahead of future stars like North Carolina's Sam Howell, Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa and TCU's Max Duggan. Mertz was the top-ranked quarterback recruit in Wisconsin history and trailed only All-American running back John Clay as the best offensive skill recruit in program history.
Mertz had a solid start to his career, completing 32 of 43 passes for 375 yards and seven touchdowns to beat Illinois and Michigan at the start of the pandemic-shortened season. However, Mertz struggled mightily to recapture his redshirt freshman form, regression in completion percentage each season as a starter and throwing 21 interceptions over the past two years.