Luke Fickell seeing 'incredible growth' from Badgers true freshman quarterback Carter Smith

The bar is set really high for true freshmen quarterbacks in modern college football. Some top recruits can step onto campus and thrive right away as 18-year-olds in their first season.

But at Wisconsin, Carter Smith had a very different path to the field that has put him in a much more difficult position to succeed for the Badgers.

That is what has made his performances so far this season much more impressive than they might appear in the box score.

“Carter's a unique one, too, because a lot of times your true freshman quarterback has been your third quarterback the whole year or maybe even your backup quarterback the whole year,” Head coach Luke Fickell said Monday. “His has been a little bit different. He's been expected to be somebody different every week as a scout team quarterback. And so the last few weeks he's been thrust into a situation where, now we're asking you to be yourself. We're asking you to be what our team needs you to be.”

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Fickell admitted that Smith wasn't really running offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes' actual offense until about three weeks ago, as injuries started to mount with Billy Edwards Jr., Danny O'Neil and Hunter Simmons ahead of him on the depth chart.

Other true freshmen quarterbacks get all season to prepare as though they could see the field at any time. Smith has had less than a month.

His reward was getting to make his first-career start against the No. 2 team in the country.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers opening up offense for Carter Smith: 'Find out what this kid can do'

So while a final stat line of 9-for-15 passing with 98 yards, one touchdown and one interception might not jump off the page, it represents a rapid development for a young quarterback thrown into an impossible situation.

"It's been an incredible growth for him," Fickell said. "We still need to continue to see him grow and doing the things that a quarterback does when the lights are on, and that has a lot to do with taking care of the football, that has a lot to do with managing and understanding the game, and that has a lot to do with taking what's there."

What a play call. Great throw and awareness by Carter Smith. Badgers have life. pic.twitter.com/rzSsWqSQWI
— Connor Whelan (@its_connor_w) November 15, 2025

It's a challenge for the coaching staff, too, trying to find a way to put Smith in the best position to be successful while they're still learning what he's capable of.

The obvious wrinkle early on has been getting the quarterback's legs more involved, to keep the offense moving forward and build his confidence.

They need him to continue to find more consistency as a passer, but Fickell and his staff are confident based on the growth Smith has already shown.

"We have to kind of hone in on what his strengths are, and we have to give him an opportunity to use his strengths to the best of his ability," FIckell said. "I don't spend every waking moment with him like [quarterbacks] coach [Kenny] Guiton does. But he talked about what a joy it's been the last few weeks of just seeing how he's kind of handled the whole situation and his growth even in the last three weeks."

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