Graham Mertz, Badgers players reach out to Paul Chryst following win against Northwestern

Paul Chryst still means a lot of Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz and several other Badgers players. Even though the school parted ways with Chryst — the head football coach since 2015 — last week, the relationship he had with the players is still very much alive.

After a dominant 42-7 victory against Northwestern on Saturday, Wisconsin reporter Evan Flood revealed a touching gesture from Graham and a few others toward their former coach.

“Graham Mertz said he and some of the #Badgers reached out to Paul Chryst after the game and shared the win with him,” Flood tweeted.

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Mertz threw for a career-high 299 yards and also tied his previous career best with five passing touchdowns. It was by far his best performance this season as the Badgers notched their first conference win and improved to 3-3 (1-2 Big Ten) on the year.

Wisconsin totaled 515 yards of offense while holding the Wildcats to 342. The Badgers forced three turnovers as defensive coordinator Jim improved to 1-0 as interim head coach.

Many believe Leonhard to be a top candidate to take the full-time job at the end of this season, and his first audition certainly went well. Wisconsin moves on to face Michigan State on the road next week.

Jim Leonhard reveals message from Paul Chryst

Shortly after taking over as interim coach, Leonhard spoke about the advice he received from Chryst.

“Obviously unique circumstances to get here, and want to be very sensitive to Coach Chryst and the conversations and the relationship that we had,” Leonhard said Sunday at a press conference. He has a ton of confidence in me and he made that very clear when he hired me and he made that very clear today in his message. This place means a lot to me. I really felt like I grew up here. I’ve talked about this many times. I really became who I am at the university of Wisconsin and in this football program and around so many people that are still here today. So, to have an opportunity to be in this position is not one that I take lightly.”

Leonhard played for Wisconsin from 2002-04 as a defensive back before coming back as the defensive backs coach in 2016. He was promoted to defensive coordinator a year later.

Like so many others at Wisconsin, the connection to the school runs deep for Leonhard, and being the head coach at his alma mater isn’t lost on him. The circumstances of it — the coach who hired him being jettisoned amid a lackluster 2-3 start — are bleak, but the job at hand is what Leonhard got into coaching for.

“Very mixed emotions at this point,” Leonhard said, “but, I feel like I can take this opportunity and help this place grow. And that’s why I came back a number of years ago and that’s why I haven’t left. And that’s the mission that I want to continue forward with our guys and getting them to understand the trust, the confidence we have in this group of men. That we will get this going the right direction and it’s going to happen sooner than later.”

On3’s Andrew Graham contributed to this report.