Coronavirus might have decided the Wisconsin Badgers quarterback battle between Jack Coan and Graham Mertz before it even got started.
With fears about the virus sweeping across America, the Big 10 has suspended all team activities through the first week of April. For all we know, the ban could go much longer. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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Why does this matter? Well, it’s pretty simple. If the Badgers can’t start spring football practice, then Jack Coan will 100% be our starting quarterback again in the fall.
The widely-held belief is that Mertz would need a great spring and a great fall to unseat Coan as the starting quarterback.
Right now, there’s literally no guarantee of when players will be allowed to put on the pads because of coronavirus.
That means we have no guarantee of when Mertz will get reps and a shot at taking Coan’s job, and he needs all the reps he can get.
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Obviously, there’s no guarantee Mertz would win the job. Paul Chryst loves experience, and Coan has much more of it as he enters his senior season.
However, Mertz does have the higher ceiling, but he just needs all the reps he can get. If Wisconsin doesn’t get spring practice, then his chances of starting in the fall are pretty much cooked.
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It’s pretty wild to think the coronavirus might have decided the biggest quarterback battle in America before a single snap of spring ball.
Welcome to sports in 2020. What a wild time to be alive.