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Graham Mertz explains what he learned in 2020, expectations for Wisconsin this season

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

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Graham Mertz got the full experience of the ups and downs of being a college quarterback during the 2020 season. His first year as the starting quarterback at Wisconsin began on a high note, but he had to endure some growing pains along the way.

Mertz was the talk of the college football world after leading the Badgers to a 45-7 win over Illinois in the first week of the season. The redshirt freshman completed 20-of-21 passes for 248 yards and 5 touchdowns in the victory. In Wisconsin’s second game against Michigan, he threw for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns without throwing a pick in a 49-11 win.

After that, Mertz struggled a bit. He threw just 2 more touchdown passes the rest of the year and had 5 interceptions. He didn’t eclipse the 200-yard mark through the air in any of his final three games.

But, Mertz has a full season under his belt now and the Badgers are closing up spring practice. This week, the quarterback spoke with ESPN about what he learned from last season and what the expectations are this season in Madison.

“Going back to last year, it was definitely one of those years you learn from, you grow from,” Mertz said. “For me, I always set the bar really high for myself and I know what we want to do here, something that’s never been done. I know the whole team is on that wave. We’re constantly pushing each other to get to that level and we know that we can reach that level. We definitely have very high expectations for ourselves.”

In his first season as the full-time starter, Mertz ended the season with 1,238 yards, 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions while completing 61.1% of his passes. He also flashed his ability to get to the end zone on the ground in Wisconsin’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl win over Wake Forest, scoring two rushing touchdowns.

Mertz says that last year’s experience will help him to be a better quarterback in 2021.

“I think (what I learned) is how to play the game,” Mertz said. “That’s timing, anticipating, location and truly just being a quarterback at the Division I level. I feel like last year was truly great for me to go through those growing pains, but I truly had that. And I came out of it a better person and a better quarterback.”

Wisconsin will open the season against Penn State.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB