Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. is unlikely to play at No. 19. Alabama on Saturday, sources told ESPN.
Edwards is expected to travel with the team and plans to warm up for the game, per sources, but he still faces long odds to play this week.
Edwards sprained his knee in the opening 17-0 win against Miami University and is considered week-to-week. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said early in the week that Edwards has been rehabbing and pushing forward and that the team “will be prepared either way.” He added: “We’re going to have to protect Billy from himself.”
Danny O’Neil, a sophomore who transferred from San Diego State, is in line to start again for the Badgers. He has completed 35 of 46 passes over two games for four touchdowns and two interceptions. He has 403 passing yards on the season.
Fickell made it clear in the spring that Edwards, a transfer from Maryland, arrived as the starting quarterback. He threw for 2,881 yards and 15 touchdowns last year at Maryland. Wisconsin opens Big Ten play next week against Edwards’ former school.
After Maryland, Wisconsin has a bye before traveling to Ann Arbor for Michigan on Oct. 4.
The Badgers are 2-0 after that win over the RedHawks plus one over Middle Tennessee, and the Alabama game looms as the biggest test so far of Wisconsin’s overhauled roster. Bama enters the game 1-1 after getting upset by Florida State in the opener.
