The Wisconsin Badgers‘ staff have hit the portal once again to secure another quarterback following the issues the program faced with the position a season ago.
After already adding a top transfer portal target and Old Dominion starter Colton Joseph, the Badgers hit the portal again to land Louisville back-up Deuce Adams. The quarterback is a former three-star Austin Vandegrift (TX) star who recorded 74 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions in three seasons of varsity play.
Following his high school career, Adams signed with Louisville as a member of the 2024 class and carried the football once as a freshman. The quarterback went on to redshirt the 2024 season before returning for the 2025 season. Adams recorded 94 passing yards and 14 rushing yards in an emergency start against SMU before finishing the season with 112 passing yards and 33 rushing yards.
Adams will also join Carter Smith, who started for Wisconsin to finish the 2025 season, and Danny O’Neil on the roster. O’Neil also started a handful of games for the Badgers in 2025 before interceptions led to his benching around the middle of the season.
Wisconsin Badgers Land Louisville Transfer Quarterback Deuce Adams
The Badgers have struggled to maintain a healthy quarterback room the past few seasons, dating back to Tanner Mordecai at the start of the tenure of Coach Luke Fickell. Last season in particular the worst kept secret in Wisconsin was just how bad the quarterback play was at times.
Wisconsin had the worst passing offense in the Big Ten Conference in 2025 with just 136.4 passing yards per game. Nine passing touchdowns and 13 interceptions were also conference worsts as the Badgers had the fourth-lowest total passing yards in the FBS. The Badgers also finished the season with a team quarterback rating of 109.6 while most middle of the road teams average a rating of 130.
Joseph will be the starter next season but having multiple prepared back-ups is more important than ever as Wisconsin discovered last season. O’Neil played well at times, but ultimately was not the best long-term option as the competition became stiffer. Coach Fickell surely does not want to worry about a similar situation, and loading up on quarterbacks has become an important task.
Heading into the 2026 season, Fickell and Wisconsin are determined to finally turn the tides at quarterback. Joseph has two more seasons of eligibility left while Smith is set to retain all four years of his eligibility. Adams will have three years of eligibility remaining as multiple options will be left open.
Barring any changes, O’Neil will also return with two years of eligibility left after posting 635 passing yards, five touchdowns, and five interceptions in 2025. O’Neil finished the season with a quarterback rating of 33.4 which was a significant drop-off from his freshman campaign with the San Diego State Aztecs. The quarterback passed for 2,181 yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman with the Aztecs in 2024.
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