Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Deacon Hill announces decision to enter transfer portal
The ramifications of losing your head coach are widespread for a college football program. While they won against Northwestern this weekend, one of the first dominoes have fallen for the Wisconsin Badgers with a transer portal announcement coming this afternnon.
Deacon Hill, a redshirt freshman out of Santa Barbara, California, posted on Twitter this evening that he would be entering the portal with three years of eligibility remaining.
Hill, a former three-star in On3’s 2021 Consensus Ranking, redshirted his freshman season in Madison. As of this season, he has thrown just one pass as he sits as the backup behind Graham Mertz. However, this comes just a week after the firing of head coach Paul Chryst.
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.
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.