The Badgers freshman QB has taken advantage of a tough situation.
When the Wisconsin Badgers lost Tyler Van Dyke to a torn ACL in Week 3, the pressure immediately shifted to Braedyn Locke to step up, with true freshman Mabrey Mettauer suddenly one snap away from the spotlight.
Heading into the season, the idea of Mettauer, a composite four-star recruit from The Woodlands in Texas, wasn’t expected to contribute right away, given the usual time it takes for young players to develop and having several experienced players ahead of him.
Nevertheless, plans changed, and Mettauer, who almost exclusively earned third-team reps during fall camp, was elevated to the backup role behind Locke for the foreseeable future.
Wisconsin’s coaching staff, however, has made it clear that they’ve been pleased with Mettauer’s progress since joining the football program as an early enrollee.
“He’s a lot further than he was in the spring,” Fickell told reporters. “He’s a lot further than he was in fall camp. And I’ve talked about the tough situation for him [which] was those guys battling in front of him, so he wasn’t getting many opportunities to even run with the twos. He probably had a handful of snaps in all of fall camp with the twos.
“But I think even in the last four weeks, I’ve seen incredible growth. Just the knowledge of the game, his ability to go out there in practice, we try to put him under pressure, and [see] him handle the pressure, the things that we’re doing in practice and be successful with it. So he’s on a really good track.”
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound signal-caller saw his first live action in the 52-6 rout of Purdue, entering in mop-up duty. Mettauer completed his lone pass, a check-down to Jackson McGohan for two yards in 11 total snaps.
“For the limited action and for what little we asked Mabrey to do Saturday, he did a really good job,” Phil Longo said. “I went up to Mabrey, and I said you’re going in next drive, warm up. He did… I went over to him after Braedyn commanded the last drive that he had, and I said, are you nervous? This is your first opportunity. I’ll clean it up for you; he was like, heck no, I’m ready to roll, I have been waiting for this, and he was jacked up to get out on the field. So there’s a sense of calm and a confidence because he knew what he was doing, and I think he was just itching to get out there and show everybody what he could do.”
Barring injury, it’s unlikely Mettauer will see significant playing time this season. Regardless, the opportunity to take reps with the second-team offense, play behind a better offensive line, and throw to a different set of skill position players has undoubtedly played a role in accelerating his development.
“Week to week, he’s getting better mentally, and he’s executing better when we’re out on the practice field,” Longo said.
Freshmen typically need time to grow, learn, and acclimate to the nuances of a college offense, but an injury forced Mettauer into a position where he’s had no choice but to expedite that learning curve — and by all accounts, he’s heading in the right direction.
The Wisconsin football program desperately needs to land a long-term answer at quarterback to break the cycle of relying on one-year transfer portal rentals. Given time, perhaps Mettauer could develop into the solution the Badgers have been searching for, offering stability and consistency at a position that’s been a revolving door in recent years.