Billy Edwards injury update: No timeline for Wisconsin QB, Hunter Simmons will start vs. Ohio State

Wisconsin is expected to start Hunter Simmons at quarterback against Ohio State on Saturday, per On3’s Pete Nakos. Simmons has started the last two games for the Badgers after beginning the season as the team’s third-string QB.

In Simmons’ two starts, he’s completed 26-of-his-50 pass attempts for 259 yards. He didn’t record a passing touchdown in the two games, but threw three interceptions.

The first start resulted in a 24-10 loss to Michigan. Most recently, Simmons and Wisconsin fell 37-0 to Iowa. Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell said Simmons would compete with Danny O’Neil for the Week 8 starting nod.

It appears Hunter Simmons has won the quarterback battle. The program hasn’t released a timetable for quarterback Billy Edwards Jr.’s return. Edwards suffered a knee injury in Wisconsin’s season-opener and has only briefly appeared in one game since — the Badgers’ Week 5 loss to Maryland.

Edwards started the game but only played one series before subbing out. He didn’t return to the contest. Earlier this week, Fickell provided an update on Edwards’ condition.

“I don’t know on Billy,” Fickell said. “We want Billy to be 100% or as close to 100% in order to be able to protect himself. And at some point in time, that’s going to fall on the shoulders of him as well… We would love to have him out there. We would love to have him in the preparation, but we’ve also put ourselves in that position a few weeks ago, that probably, I’m not saying set us back, but probably set him back a little bit.

“That was a mistake on my part because I told you guys, I got to save Billy from himself. My job is to continue to do is to save Billy from himself again so that when we do get him back, we have him back for what we would feel like is the duration of the year.”

Wisconsin is facing a massive challenge on Saturday. Ohio State’s defense is allowing just 6.8 yards per game this season, the least in the country. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Greg McElroy revealed what Wisconsin must do to compete with the Buckeyes.

“No. 1, they have to stop the run completely,” McElroy said. “[The Badgers] allow just under 100 yards a game and 3.5 a carry. So, they have to sell out completely against the run. No. 2, they have to have a complete renaissance in the backfield defensively.

“… they’re facing an Ohio State passing attack that’s arguably the most dangerous in the country… They have to implement a bend-don’t-break zone scheme that kind of keeps everything in front of them, and force the Buckeyes to make long, methodical drives to potentially bait Ohio State into some impatience or a possible red zone mistake.”