Former Mississippi State and Rockwall (Texas) four-star quarterback Braedyn Locke has transferred to Wisconsin, he tells Rivals.
A quarterback prospect in the class of 2022, Locke spent one season at Mississippi State before entering the transfer portal on Jan. 3. Upon entering the portal, Locke immediately re-initiated a relationship with Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who had grown close with during his initial recruitment.
"It was probably the biggest factor," Locke said about Longo. "My relationship with Coach Longo runs really deep going back to my junior year of high school when he first started recruiting me. He's one of the best in the business in my opinion. He's one of those guys that's always gonna shoot you straight and that meant a lot to me."
Despite the move from North Carolina to Wisconsin, Locke still sees the similarities between Longo's offense and the offenses that the former four-star has grown accustomed to in his career.
"That offense is very suitable," he said. "It's very suitable to what we did at Mississippi State and going back to Rockwall. I'm fired up to play for him, I think he's one of the top play-callers in the country. I'm really blessed to be recognized by him."
Wisconsin's new head coach Luke Fickell and the brilliance that he has taken to Madison also stood out on Locke's official visit this past weekend.
"He's a really intelligent guy," he said. "He loves competition and he's very innovative. With some of the things we were talking about, he does things a little bit differently and thinks a little more outside the box. I think that's why he wins so much."
The city of Madison also fit what Locke was looking for in a new home as it reminds him of his hometown of Rockwall, a suburb just east of Dallas.
"It's just so top-of-the-line," he said. "It's a prestigious program with a ton of rich tradition and rich history and everything there is so nice. The people there are awesome, the players are awesome, the coaching staff was really good to me and my family. The city is fitting for me and reminds me of Dallas and Rockwall."
Playing in the Big Ten also excites Locke for the future as he knows that development in that conference will lead to bigger success at the next level.
"It's a tremendous conference with a lot of competition," he said. "It's hard to win in that league, and that's what you want. You want to play the best teams. If you want to be in the upper echelon of college football, winning the Big Ten is one of the things you have to do."
While Locke gears up to begin his next journey at Wisconsin, the lifelong fan of the late Mike Leach will take with him what his mentor and former coach taught him in his one season at Mississippi State for the rest of his career and his life off the field.
"Coach Leach, he was my guy," he said. "I really idolized him growing up. To be around him every day was really special. Something I will take from him is that he was willing to do everything his way and he didn't care what anybody thought. He didn't want to be anybody else, he just wanted to be himself."
Locke serves as the third transfer quarterback addition at Wisconsin since the arrival of the new staff as he joins SMU transfer Tanner Mordecai and Oklahoma transfer Nick Evers, who are both also Texas natives. The Badgers also have an additional Texas native committed in the 2024 class in The Woodlands (Texas) four-star Mabrey Mettauer.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound signal-caller is the career passing touchdowns (128) leader in the state of Texas at the 6A level, the highest classification in the Lone Star State, and was the quarterback for former Ohio State five-star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for two seasons. He is also second in career passing yards at the 6A level with 11,182. He did not appear in a game for Mississippi State last season and will have four years of eligibility upon his arrival in Madison.
