Grover Bortolotti was dripping in sweat, physically exhausted as he held a plank with his arms outstretched on the McClain Center field during Wisconsin’s offseason workouts. He and a teammate were responsible for staying upright for nearly three minutes so the rest of the offensive players could bear crawl down the field underneath them in a competition against the defense.
Bortolotti, a walk-on running back, felt in need of moral support to successfully complete the task. He found it when he heard the quiet but intense words from that teammate holding the other plank next to him: quarterback Tanner Mordecai.
Let’s go. We’ve got this. A couple more. Let’s finish.
“Tanner’s just a guy who’s a natural leader,” Bortolotti said. “He doesn’t have to say much. If you watch the way he goes about things, it just makes you want to go harder. That’s a guy I’ll be like, ‘Alright, I’ll throw my head in against a 250-pound linebacker for that guy because I know that’s the guy that’ll bring us to a championship.’ He just makes you feel like everything is going to be all right.”
That story, as much as any other, helps explain how Mordecai has established himself as someone whom teammates greet with respect and not skepticism despite being on campus for just three months after transferring from SMU. Mordecai’s calm demeanor, combined with his intensity, desire to win and on-field skill has gained him serious credibility as he leads Wisconsin into a new era as its starting quarterback.
“You can’t just walk into a culture that you’re not part of and bark orders,” Mordecai said Wednesday in his first meeting with reporters since arriving at Wisconsin. “You’ve got to build relationships, build trust, respect and go from there.”
Mordecai will play a significant role in determining where Wisconsin goes in the first year under head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Phil Longo. He is a sixth-year senior with one season of eligibility remaining and has no intention of wasting it. When asked where he wants to take the program, he succinctly replied: “Championship status. That’s it. Win championships.”
With Mordecai in charge of a new up-tempo offense that features an Air Raid passing attack and more weapons at receiver, expectations in Madison are high. Wisconsin hasn’t had a quarterback this accomplished since Russell Wilson, who in 2011 set the single-season school record for touchdown passes, passing yards and completion percentage on the way to a Rose Bowl appearance.
Mordecai, like Wilson, arrives at Wisconsin after being a multiyear starter at another college. Over the past two seasons, Mordecai threw for 7,152 yards with 72 touchdowns and 22 interceptions for SMU as a two-year captain. He ranked fifth in the country when he threw a school-record 39 touchdowns in 2021. Last season, he tossed nine touchdowns in a game against Houston and was a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist for the second consecutive year.
Those numbers certainly were top of mind when Wisconsin pursued Mordecai as a transfer. Fickell had an opportunity to observe Mordecai’s skill set up close because his Cincinnati teams played SMU each of the past two seasons. But Fickell said he learned even more about what made Mordecai so dynamic when offseason conditioning began, citing how he handled himself during mat drill workouts against teammates, which included rope tugs-of-war, among other competitions.
“If there’s a guy that on a consistent basis every single day has been a great leader in my eyes so far, one would be Tanner Mordecai,” Fickell said. “All those things add up when you talk about the competitive spirit, whether you’re the first one there, the last one to leave. Those kinds of things have shown so far from what he has done and I think he’s set an incredible example in that room. There’s a standard that if you want to be a part of it, whether you’re a guy that’s got one year left or you’re a true freshman, there’s a standard in there that you’ve got to live up to.”
Mordecai endured a challenging season at SMU last fall that highlighted his toughness. He broke two ribs during the fourth game of the season against TCU but played through the pain. He suffered a concussion against Cincinnati, which kept him out the following week. Then, during the regular-season finale against Memphis, Mordecai broke another rib. He played in the New Mexico Bowl against BYU three weeks later.
At that time, Mordecai said he was “about 90 percent sure” he would declare for the NFL Draft. But after receiving feedback from NFL personnel regarding his draft status — which didn’t thrill Mordecai — he decided to enter the transfer portal for one more college opportunity and chose Wisconsin.
The fit was exactly what Mordecai was looking for; it allowed him to showcase his talent in a Power 5 conference and paired him with Longo, who recruited Mordecai when he was the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. The Rebels ended up with a commitment in the 2018 class from Matt Corral, and Mordecai went to play for three seasons at Oklahoma before he transferred to SMU. Mordecai said he considered Longo to be a top offensive mind in college football or the NFL and that Longo was a big influence in his decision to play at Wisconsin. Mordecai has been Wisconsin’s No. 1 quarterback since spring practice began last month.
“From Day 1 that Tanner’s been here, he’s acted like the starter,” Longo said. “He’s shown up, there’s no ego. He’s very humble. And there’s no disrespect towards the other guys. But he’s been a starter for two years, he’s a veteran, he carries himself that way. And he just has shown some natural leadership ability when he’s out among our players, his teammates. I think it just comes from the fact that he’s already done it.”
Mississippi State transfer Braedyn Locke, who has been Wisconsin’s second-team quarterback this spring, said Mordecai’s composure and experience have been noticeable, particularly in how Mordecai handles situations during practice that stray from how they’re drawn up in the meeting room. Quarterback Myles Burkett praised Mordecai for his willingness to embrace and work with the other players in the position group.
Mordecai said he was especially proud that his new teammates understood his work ethic and how much being a part of Wisconsin’s culture and winning games mattered to him: “That’s something that I’m going to hold true with my heart,” he said.
Longo said Mordecai has shown he can make every throw necessary in the offense. Longo has high expectations of his quarterbacks in terms of their ability to understand the playbook and execute it: two areas in which Mordecai has impressed. Longo said he expects his quarterback to complete 100 percent of their “automatics,” or short throws in the quick game, which include screens, slants and hitches, and that Mordecai has been outstanding in that area.
Mordecai can fit throws into tight windows and doesn’t panic when under duress as he holds the ball while waiting for a play to develop on intermediate routes. Longo said he talked to Mordecai on Wednesday morning about becoming an even better deep ball passer and said Mordecai has surprised him with his athleticism, noting that he turned the corner on a scramble during practice last week for a big gain.
“I’m excited to see him in live action,” Longo said. “He’s got the leadership part of it. He’s an athlete. And I think every day that we practice, he gets better executing offense on the field. So things bode well for us in my opinion right now at quarterback.”
Mordecai said he firmly believes Fickell will win a national championship at Wisconsin. When Mordecai was reminded that he has just one season to help achieve that goal, he nodded and responded in the confident but low-key manner that has already come to define his time at Wisconsin.
“That’s right,” he said.
