Billy Edwards Jr. injury update: Luke Fickell addresses possibility of Wisconsin QB facing former team Maryland

It’s been a rough start to the season for Wisconsin senior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., who sprained his left knee in the season opener against Miami (OH) and has missed two consecutive games. In his absence, the Badgers are 1-1 with a 42-10 win over Middle Tennessee and a 38-14 loss to No. 19 Alabama.

Heading into Big Ten play with a 2-1 record, a win over Maryland in its conference opener would be massive for a Wisconsin team looking to get back to a bowl game after missing the postseason last year for the first time since 2001. Edwards Jr., who is day-to-day, played at Maryland from 2022-2024.

During a media opportunity on Monday, head coach Luke Fickell discussed the prospect of Edwards Jr. facing his former team if he does in fact play on Saturday.

“I think that anytime a guy plays their former team it’s an emotional thing,” Fickell said. “It’s a difficult thing. I’ve had it several times all the way back from five years ago. And so, it’s always something where I say ‘look, we’re not going to overlook this. We’re going to communicate and talk about this.’ It’s not gonna go away either. Look, Billy’s mature and he’s obviously an older guy that’s been through a lot of things.

“But it’s not something we’d let go unnoticed. We wouldn’t let the elephant in the room be the elephant in the room and not talk about it. There’s a lot of other things on his plate which are maybe a little bit more better for him so that he’s distracted. Maybe he’ll be like ‘am I going to be good enough? Am I going to be ready?’ So there’s still a lot of things to be had.”

Edwards Jr. played three seasons at Maryland (2022-24)

Prior to his injury in the season opener, Edwards Jr. completed 6/13 passes for 68 yards. He was replaced by backup quarterback Danny O’Neill, who has started the past two games for the Badgers. The San Diego State transfer has passed for 520 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions in three games (two starts) this season. He’s also been sacked seven times.

During his three-year stint at Maryland, Edwards Jr. completed 63% of his passes for 3,317 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. As the Terrapins’ starter last season, Edwards Jr. led them to a 4-8 record.

Kick-off for Saturday’s matchup between Wisconsin and Maryland is scheduled for 12:00 PM ET at Camp Randall Stadium. The game can be seen on NBC.