Colton Joseph ready to change Wisconsin’s recent history of misfortune with transfer QBs
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has struggled to keep quarterbacks healthy or produce many points lately. None of that bothers new Badgers quarterback Colton Joseph, who believes his success at Old Dominion can translate to the Big Ten.
Joseph heads a list of 34 transfer newcomers — 27 from Football Bowl Subdivision programs — eager to help Wisconsin bounce back from consecutive losing seasons. “I don’t really like to think about what happens in the past,” Joseph said after Wisconsin’s Tuesday morning practice. “That already happened.
I’m really here to show what I can do in the future and show what we’re building towards and what plays we can make, and the offense that we’re going to build here. ” He will try to spark a Wisconsin offense that scored just 12. 8 points per game and gained 253.
1 yards per game last year to rank ahead of only UMass among FBS schools. Wisconsin went 4-8 last year after finishing 5-7 in 2024, ending what had been a Power Four-leading streak of 22 consecutive winning seasons. Joseph was convinced he could succeed here after seeing highlights of quarterbacks working with Jeff Grimes, who is back for his second season as Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator on Luke Fickell’s staff.
He particularly took note while watching Zach Wilson, who led BYU to an 11-1 record in 2020 when Grimes was BYU’s offensive coordinator. Wilson was the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL draft.