Billy Edwards Jr. injury update: Luke Fickell reveals if Wisconsin QB is close to return

Wisconsin QB Billy Edwards Jr. has been limited all season long with a sprained knee that he suffered in the opener, with only two appearances made this fall for the Badgers. With that, the team is now apparently trying other options to see if he can recover any better than he has to this point.

Following the 34-0 shutout loss to No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday, Luke Fickell shared another update on Edwards. He said that they have yet to make a decision on whether or not the fifth-year transfer at quarterback will play again this season, but that they did choose to change up his prep prior to yesterday’s game as he had been experiencing further soreness coming out of those.

“No,” Fickell said on if they’d decided anything long-term about Edward. “We don’t know.”

“I think we’re trying to figure out, maybe we’re doing too much before, you know, like – he goes out there and does as much as he can on Saturday, and then, on Sunday, he’s a little bit sore,” explained Fickell. “It’s like, well, you know, is this kind of the insanity thing, to continue to do the same thing over and over again and hoping, expecting to get different results.”

In his limited outings this season, Edwards is 7-16 (43.8%) for 113 yards. That’s all he has been able to produce after spraining his knee against Miami (OH) before being set back in a matchup against his former school against Maryland.

With his absence, QB Danny O’Neil (61-88 (69.3%) for 635 yards, five touchdowns, five interceptions) and QB Hunter Simmons (39-71 (54.9%) for 383 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions) have been playing for the Badgers. They’ve each gotten their chances to start, but with neither having had much success with Wisconsin averaging just 13.3 points through their start at 2-5, including just 6.8 points during their current five-game losing streak as they’ve been shutout in each of the last two.

The Badgers are trying something different with the rehab for Edwards. They’ll now hope it’ll lead to him being better to start this next week, although with no thought yet of what that’d mean as far as a return to the field for him yet.

“I think we kind of backed him off this week, and to see, hopefully, that he feels a hell of a lot better come Sunday, Monday. And then we’ll see where we are,” said Fickell.