MADISON – It’s no secret that Colton Joseph is Wisconsin football’s presumed starting quarterback ahead of the 2026 season.
The Badgers’ No. 2 quarterback spot on the depth chart is a much different story.
Louisville transfer Deuce Adams and true freshman Ryan Hopkins have been competing for the second-team role through the first week of fall camp, and UW quarterbacks coach Kenny Guiton indicated that he does not see a frontrunner yet.
“You kind of go through the phase of spring ball,” Guiton said. “You get a chance to teach these guys how we do things and the way we want to go about things. And now you see early in fall camp, the kind of competition.”
Adams and Hopkins, Guiton said, are “really, really honing in on the competition and taking it on.”
Adams made his first start in 2025 and went 12-of-17 for 94 yards in his Cardinals’ 38-6 loss to SMU. He appeared in five other games as a reserve in 2025 and had one brief game appearance when he redshirted in 2024.
Guiton said the 6-foot-2 quarterback is someone “you can just tell played college ball.”
“No moment gets too high for him,” Guiton said. “No moment, he’s going to get too low on himself if there is a bad play. He’s just a guy that kind of stays neutral. I’m really pushing him to kind of come out of that comfort zone at times and lead more, but you can just tell nothing affects him.”
Hopkins has been on a quick ascent since enrolling ahead of the spring semester. The true freshman was a three-star recruit who ultimately chose the Badgers over Missouri. He also held offers from UCLA, Michigan State, Kentucky, Utah and Washington, among several other power-conference programs.
Guiton was especially complimentary of the dual-threat quarterback’s unusually high maturity as a first-year player.
“It’s really above the line, and I really appreciate him for that,” Guiton said. “He’s a guy that can naturally go out there and lead on a consistent basis. You know what to expect out of him. He’s not going to come out and be two different guys, one day to the next.”
Hopkins needs to work on relaxing in fall camp, Guiton said after an Aug. 13 practice that included an avoidable interception.
“I kind of felt like he got a little worked up in the last two days, to be honest,” Guiton said. “As competition goes and gets a little thicker, he wants to do great. … Is Coach going to coach you to be perfect? Yes. But at the end of the day, you’re going to make mistakes.”
The backup quarterback position has often been in the spotlight in Madison amid a litany of injuries at the position in recent seasons. Billy Edwards Jr. suffered a knee injury in Week 1 in 2025, and Tyler Van Dyke suffered a torn ACL in UW’s third game of 2024. Tanner Mordecai missed significant time in 2023 with a broken hand as well.
Aside from Joseph, Hopkins and Adams, UW also has Carter Smith and Danny O’Neil at the quarterback position. Smith started UW’s last three games of last season, and O’Neil has been working his way back from a leg injury that he suffered in UW’s Nov. 8 win over Washington.
Guiton’s comments about the candidates for the QB2 role followed the Badgers’ seventh practice of fall camp and came more than three weeks ahead of the Sept. 6 season opener against Notre Dame at Lambeau Field.
For as much as the competition is up in the air for now, though, Guiton is quite confident that a No. 2 quarterback will emerge by the end of fall camp.
“Basically in camp you get – what, 25, whatever it is – practices,” Guiton said. “Those are game days for those guys, and it’s game days for anybody that’s out there. So 25 games worth, I promise y’all I have enough film to know exactly which direction we want to go.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Where Wisconsin football’s backup QB competition stands in fall camp
Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
