The Alex Hornibrook era for the Wisconsin Badgers could not have gotten off to a better start Saturday as the redshirt freshman quarterback was everything fans could have asked for and more. He tore up the Michigan State Spartans’ defense in a 30-6 upset win that really established his team as one of the best in the country.
Certainly, Hornibrook had a lot of help from his defense that kept Michigan State out of the end zone and forced four turnovers, but as senior running back Corey Clement was effectively shut down by the Spartans’ defense, Hornibrook was forced to carry his offense, and some brilliant throws really put his team over the top.
The 19-year-old quarterback made some NFL-caliber throws against a top-10 opponent, remaining calm under pressure, dropping dimes and threading needles in the face of pressure and tight coverage.
Hornibrook did things in his first career start that Wisconsin quarterbacks haven’t been able to do since Russell Wilson was here. It might sound like an exaggeration, but the tape doesn’t lie, and the future is very bright under center for the Badgers.
Give Hornibrook a clean pocket and time to throw, and he can do some real damage to defenses. Redshirt junior wide receiver Jazz Peavy was well-covered on the corner route, but his quarterback dropped the ball in perfectly in stride. Peavy didn’t have to make any adjustments. It was, quite literally, a perfect throw.
Even when Michigan State did get pressure on Hornibrook, it didn’t matter. Three different Spartan defenders were credited with quarterback hits, but the redshirt freshman stood in the pocket and delivered great throws, even if his receivers let them go through their hands.
Forget that the ball fell incomplete. This is an elite throw that redshirt junior tight end Troy Fumagalli drops. Hornibrook had a defender pulling at his waist as he let go of the ball, and he still put it right between two defenders in coverage for what should have been a first down.
As if splitting two defenders while being hit wasn’t tough enough, Hornibrook took it one step further early in the fourth quarter. With a 24-point lead, he might have felt more comfortable taking risks, and he made one of the most impressive throws of any college quarterback in the country this season.
Three defenders in the area? No problem for Hornibrook on that throw as he executed play action, went through his progressions and fired a laser just out of reach of redshirt senior Spartan defensive back Demetrious Cox.
Fumagalli was sure to hold on this one, so Hornibrook got credit for a perfect ball that slipped through the tightest of windows in coverage. The level of recognition, timing and accuracy required on that throw were incredible, and it is hard to overstate how impressive that is for a redshirt freshman in his first career start.
That being said, there were still plenty of throws that Hornibrook wishes he could have back. After all, he did have 10 incomplete passes, and only a few of those can be credited to drops. There were a few times when Michigan State’s pressure did get to him, and there was one throw where he may have gotten a little overconfident and should have been intercepted.
These are the types of throws you might have expected to see more of from Hornibrook in his debut, but they really were few and far between. Wisconsin has its quarterback of the present and the future who has an extremely tough task ahead of him next week against the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines.
If he puts on another performance like this one, the Badgers have a real chance to prove that they are the best that the Big Ten has to offer.
