StaTuesday: Badgers passing targets through 9 games

Quintez Cephus had emerged as Wisconsin's No. 1 receiver this season -- but now what?



After leaving this past Saturday's game against Indiana with an injury, Cephus has already been declared out for this weekend's game vs. Iowa. And really, who knows how much time Cephus will miss (mainly because Wisconsin isn’t saying), but it didn't look good and it wouldn't be a surprise if the wide receiver is done for the regular season.

Cephus has been one of the top targets of quarterback Alex Hornibrook, second only to tight end Troy Fumagalli.

Fumagalli, by the way, leads the Badgers in targets despite missing the Purdue game and has had the most targets (or tied for the most) in every game in the middle third of Wisconsin's season in which he's played. In the one game Fumagalli missed, Cephus led with five targets against the Boilermakers.

But back to our question: now what?

If we go by what has occurred over the first nine games, A.J. Taylor's role will be increased. After all, Taylor is the only other player on the Badgers with more than 20 targets this far. However, Taylor also leads Wisconsin in drops.

Don't discount Danny Davis, who had five targets against Northwestern and four vs. Purdue among his 18 overall on the season. Kendric Pryor has emerged as well, with 10 targets in Big Ten play, including five vs. Illinois.

Below is a list of all of Hornibrook’s targets through nine games. And by all we mean all. Included in the list are plays lost due to penalties (while they don’t count in official stats, it still gives insight on the play and who he’s targeting). In the chart, LOST/PEN means passes which were likely catches but a penalty on Wisconsin nullified the play. The header INC/PEN indicates passes which were incomplete but there was a penalty on the defense (think: pass interference).

Also, here's a list of all the penalties Wisconsin has made this season, including those declined. Nick Nelson was flagged for three pass interference penalties against Indiana, but had committed just four penalties -- two for pass interference -- in the first eight games.

An illegal block was called in the game against Maryland, and declined, but the referee mentioned no numbers and upon video review the offense was not found.

The Badgers have been called for 16 holding penalties and 10 false starts. The tally: