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Wisconsin Badgers transfer Billy Edwards Jr. among PFF's highest-graded returning Big Ten quarterbacks

The Wisconsin Badgers' transfer portal quarterback gives them one of the best QBs in the Big Ten coming back for the 2025 season, based on PFF's grading from last year.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (9) is shown during spring football practice Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (9) is shown during spring football practice Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers' transfer quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. was a bit of a castoff from the Maryland Terrapins last season.

But their loss looks to be Luke Fickell's gain with one of the top returning QBs in the Big Ten this season.

PFF put out their grades for the quarterbacks coming back in 2025, and Edwards is graded just behind four of his closest competitors.

PFF gave him a 75.9 overall grade last season at Maryland. That's 0.5 behind Illinois' Luke Altmyer and less than 2.5 behind Nico Iamaleava at UCLA, Fernando Mendoza at Indiana and Athan Kaliakmanis at Rutgers.

Edwards is right in the mix in that second tier of quarterbacks behind Mark Gronowski at Iowa and Drew Allar at Penn State.

He threw for 2,880 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season, completing 64.5 percent of his passes. Those numbers would be arguably Wisconsin's best QB performance since Jack Coan in 2019.

No one is putting Edwards Jr. in the Davey O'Brien Award conversation, but he should give Wisconsin a needed boost under center that can keep them in contention with their Big Ten rivals.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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