Wisconsin Badgers Football: Luke Fickell Talks Tanner Mordecai, Player Leadership on The Mike Heller Show

On Wednesday, the Badgers football team will begin a week(ish)-long training camp at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Mike Heller of iHeart Media’s 97.3 The Game will be on site, but had the chance to talk with Coach Fickell today ahead of the start of camp. During the interview, Coach Fickell talked about the importance of player leadership and quarterback Tanner Mordecai.

Wisconsin Badgers Football Head Coach Luke Fickell Discusses the Importance of Player Leadership

As mentioned, a great deal of excitement surrounding the Badgers football team is due to the high-quality players that Fickell and his staff have been able to recruit. However, Fickell believes that it will be the leadership of the players that have been at Wisconsin for a few years now that will be vital to the team’s success.

Heller, joined by Doug Russell, asked Fickell about the importance of leadership by the returning players, not just by being vocal leaders, but leading by example and what they do:

“That is going to be a big key to what we are doing. Right? I mean, you can preach until you’re blue in the face, but the things the guys do, the example they set, the things they do, and they way in which they do them, it’s so critical.

“We’ve all been on teams where we might say, ‘We didn’t have the greatest leaders, or they were our younger guys,’ so at that time, sometimes you as coach need to search in yourself and do more and more and more of leadership as the leader.

“I believe we have a really good mix. I mean, obviously a lot of us coaches are new and so we are being examples of what leadership looks like in the things that we do.

“But I think we have this uniqueness of guys that have been here, that have done things the right way, and have, you know, a kind of different effect on these guys in the locker room.

“And different experiences, right? Leadership is all about your experiences and the uniqueness that we don’t have those guys within the program that have seen how things might be different or changed.

“I think we’re very fortunate to have the Braelon’s and the Hunter’s and the Maema’s and those kinds of guys that are going to play a really big role in how we kind of come together and play together.

In the next part of the interview, Coach Fickell talked about how the offense may or may not be different from what people are expecting. Yes, Longo’s Air Raid offense is going to be a big part of what they do, but Wisconsin has a history of great running offenses. That is not going away.

As the returning players and the new players alike learn about their new coaches and their styles, it will be up to the upper classmen to set the example and lead them through whatever changes there are.

Coach Fickell Discusses Lessons He Learned from Coaching Desmond Ridder and How He Can Apply Them to Tanner Mordecai

One of the biggest names that Fickell was able to recruit to Wisconsin is quarterback Tanner Mordecai. Doug Russell commented that the speed with which Mordecai releases the ball is bordering on a pro level. Fickell previously coached Desmond Ridder, who is now playing for the Atlanta Falcons. Russell did not ask Fickell to compare the two players, as it would be unfair to both; but he did ask him to explain what lessons he learned coaching Ridder that he can apply to Mordecai:

“Leadership. But I think even where Desmond was and what Desmond did, being there for five years, a starter for four years, and growing and growing and growing, they’ve gone about things in a different route.

“I mean, Tanner’s experiences and the things he did, first at Oklahoma, then SMU, and now to here have made him an incredible leader in different ways.

“So the one thing is, or two of them, is that the quarterback is that multiplier. They (Ridder and Mordecai) are the multiplier in that they understand that leaders make the players around them better. And that the quarterback’s job is to make everybody better.

“And so it’s fair to compare. Now we’ll see. Their ultimate job is to win games and make the people around them better. I think they’re very similar in some of those things. I’m excited, and I’m excited about what Tanner has a chance to do and how guys will kind of follow him and what his leadership looks like.”

In his last year at Cincinnati with Coach Fickell, Ridder threw for 3,334 yards, 30 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions. Of course, according to Fickell, Mordecai’s job is not just to put up stats, but to win games and make the players around him better.

He seems to think his new quarterback has what it takes.

That should be very exciting for Badgers fans.

To hear Heller and Russell interview Badgers offensive coordinator Phil Longo, listen to their show linked above.