Should the Badgers take a chance on freshman QB Carter Smith this year?
With the season essentially lost, should the Badgers see what they have in freshman quarterback Carter Smith?
The Wisconsin football team landed a major commitment in its 2025 class when 4-star quarterback Carter Smith gave his pledge to the Badgers. Smith was initially committed to Michigan, but Wisconsin was the beneficiary when the Wolverines flipped Bryce Underwood, the top overall quarterback in the 2025 class from LSU.
Since his commitment, he has been viewed as the future of the program. The gunslinger from Fort Myers, Florida, would sit at least a year behind Billy Edwards Jr. before getting the keys to the offense.
Again, the program's starting quarterback suffered an injury. Since then, the Badgers have played two other quarterbacks: Danny O’Neil and Hunter Simmons. The pair battled for the backup spot during camp, with O’Neil winning the job. Simmons has started the past three games. With him manning the offense, the team has mustered up just seven points.
Sitting at 2-5 overall and winless in the Big Ten, it would be fair to call this season a loss. There isn’t a game on the schedule I’d pick the Badgers to win right now to finish the season.
So it begs the question: should the Badgers start Carter Smith the rest of the year?
What do they have to lose? You can’t say the quarterbacks they are trotting out there are doing a whole lot. You would think giving Smith some experience heading into 2026 and beyond would be beneficial in his development, while also building a connection with players like freshman receiver Eugene Hilton Jr.
Assuming Fickell is back next season, this would give him and his staff a good look at their future quarterback.
The only drawback would be potentially burning Smith’s redshirt, making him a sophomore next season instead of saving a year of eligibility. Although, I could also see the coaching staff wanting to stash Smith away for the year to not only retain his freshman year of eligibility, but also to keep other teams’ eyes off of him. Even if Smith doesn’t go into the portal, we all know everyone is fair game. We saw how that played out with Xavier Lucas.
But with Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh vowing to support the program more financially, they should be able to keep Smith around if it should come to a bidding war with another program.
There have been murmurs on social media about the freshman getting some playing time, including some cryptic tweets from Smith’s father.
Obviously, the tweets themselves don’t mean anything is imminent, but I don’t think they mean nothing, either.
Earlier, Fickell made comments about letting the younger players potentially ge
t some playing time this season. He was asked specifically about Smith being one of those young players during his weekly press conference.
“There’s an opportunity for everybody in the program now to earn a chance to go out there,” Fickell told reporters. “Carter could be one of them…we gotta be able to see some things on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Fickell went on to talk about younger players not only showing the coaching staff they deserve to play based on practice, but also by ‘maintaining the respect of the locker room’ by knowing their stuff and essentially being a dependable teammate.
So, could we see Carter Smith in the near future? It’s hard to tell based on Fickell’s comments, but I wouldn’t be overly surprised if we get to see him in a game or two this season, so coaches can get a preview of what they have in their freshman quarterback. That information would be helpful in offseason plans, too. If he looks the part, they may not need to go portaling for a quarterback if Billy Edwards Jr. doesn’t come back.
Even if it’s for a game or two, where the staff can see him in action and not burn his redshirt, I think it’s worth seeing what Carter Smith has.
It means a lot to have you here at The Badger Backer. I’m passionate about digging deep into Wisconsin football and basketball, and your readership makes it all worthwhile. Catch up on previous posts or ensure you don’t miss anything by subscribing below! Let’s keep the Badger conversation going!
You can find more of my work at All Badgers. Follow me on ‘X’ @christianborman and @thebadgerbacker!
The Badger Backer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.