The Athletic ranks Billy Edwards Jr. neck-and-neck with Big Ten QBs at USC, Michigan among others

The latest QB ranking from The Athletic has Billy Edwards Jr. from the Wisconsin Badgers on the same tier as eight other Big Ten quarterbacks.

Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (9) is shown during spring football practice Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Wisconsin Badgers are hoping Billy Edwards Jr. has more success with the team than their previous two transfer quarterbacks.

After an up-and-down season at Maryland last year, Edwards has come to Madison with some skepticism from national college football analysts, but the latest quarterback ranking from The Athletic sounds more optimistic

For the last six weeks, @AntonioCMorales and I tried the impossible: to rank every projected FBS starting QB, from No. 1 to No. 136.

With intel from 40+ coaches and staffers across the country, we introduce the result: @TheAthletic’s College QB Tiers: https://t.co/5CcklQqtq2

— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) July 16, 2025

Their writers ranked him as the No. 56 quarterback in the country, which put him just behind Jayden Maiava from USC (54) and Bryce Underwood at Michigan (50).

Maryland struggled last year, but Edwards was adequate as a first-time starter. He attempted 40 or more passes in six games, and the Terrapins’ run game was one of the worst in the country. Jeff Grimes has taken over as the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin. The goal should be to re-establish the Badgers' identity as a run-first outfit and lessen the load for Edwards. Regardless, he’ll be an upgrade at QB in Madison.

The Athletic

The ranking put Edwards in the fourth tier of quarterbacks, which they categorized as "some are young, unproven starters with high potential; others are veterans who have flashed great talent but hit performance or injury speed bumps somewhere along the way."

That tier includes eight other Big Ten quarterbacks, including the projected starters for Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska.

Only five QBs in the conference reached higher tiers, headlined by Penn State's Drew Allar in Tier 1 as the sixth-ranked quarterback overall.

Edwards is right at the same level as many of his peers and four of the starters he'll face on the Badgers' Big Ten schedule, in addition to two teams (Maryland and Minnesota) with quarterbacks in the tiers below him.

If he can perform at a similar level to the other Big Ten quarterbacks, he should have Wisconsin's offense in a good place this season.

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