Honors and Awards
2022: Academic All-Big Ten
2021: Academic All-Big Ten
2021 Preseason: Manning Award watch list, Davey O’Brien Award watch list, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list
2020: Davey O’Brien Award midseason watch list, Maxwell Award Player of the Week (Oct. 26), Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 26), Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Oct. 26), Academic All-Big Ten
2022 Season: Played in 12 games, starting all at quarterback … completed 164-of-286 (57.3) passes for 2,136 yards and 19 touchdowns, all career-bests … compiled a 135.0 passer rating, his best in any season as a starter … finished his career at UW with a 19-13 record as a starter, ranking T-6th in program history in starts and 8th in wins by a quarterback … reached the 5,000-yard passing mark at Iowa in the 1st quarter on a completion to Skyler Bell (11/12) to become the 8th Badger QB to reach the milestone … threw for 13 touchdowns in conference action, the most for a Badger QB since Alex Hornibrook in 2017 … owned a 173.2 passer rating in Wisconsin victories, the 3rd highest mark in the Big Ten … recorded a passer rating of 170.0 or better in four games after doing so on only three occasions before 2022 … moved his career total to 12 200-yard passing performances, the most for a UW QB since Joel Stave from 2012-2015 … picked apart Northwestern, throwing for 299 yards on 20-of-29 passing and five TDs (10/8), becoming the first Badger to record two separate five-TD single-game performances … Against New Mexico State (9/17), Mertz threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns, recording a 273.2 passer rating, his career best and the third-highest in program history … completed 13 passes in a row in the season opener vs. Illinois State (9/3), recording the seventh-longest single-game completion streak in school history
2021 Season: Earned second letter, starting all 13 games at quarterback ... completed 169-of-284 passes (.595) for 1,958 yards and 10 touchdowns ... threw 9 TD passes against just five interceptions over the final 10 games of the season ... completed 73-of-110 passes (.664) and threw 7 TD passes over the final five games ... went 11-of-16 for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns in win at Rutgers ... his 244.1 pass efficiency in that game was 3rd-highest by a Big Ten quarterback in a conference game last season ... went 18-for-23 for 216 yards and 2 TDs against Northwestern the following week ... completed 11-of-15 passes for 137 yards a score in the Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arizona State
2020 Season: Earned first letter, starting all 7 games at quarterback ... completed 118-of-194 passes (.608) for 1,220 yards and 9 touchdowns ... became the first Wisconsin freshman to start a season opener at quarterback since 1978, going 20-for-21 for 248 yards and 5 touchdowns against Illinois ... his 5 TD passes tied the highest single-game total in UW history ... he set the Wisconsin completion percentage record with a mark of .952, going 20-for-21 overall ... Mertz finished with a pass efficiency rating of 277.1, the third-highest mark in Badger history ... he completed his first 17 passes, matching the Badgers’ single-game school record for consecutive completions (third-longest streak in a conference game in Big Ten history) ... he threw for 248 yards, the third-highest single-game total by a Wisconsin freshman ... also threw for two TDs in win at Michigan ... capped the season a passing TD and two rushing TDs in UW's Duke's Mayo Bowl victory over Wake Forest
2019 Season: Redshirt season ... appeared in 2 games as backup quarterback ... completed 9 of 10 passes for 73 yards ... went 4-for-5 for 35 yards in Badgers debut vs. Central Michigan on Sept. 7 ... was 5-for-5 for 38 yards and recorded a 10-yard run vs. Kent State on Oct. 5
High School: Four-star recruit by 247 Sports, ESPN and Rivals … Elite 11 quarterback ... selected for The Opening Finals ... 2018 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year ... All-American Bowl selection as a senior ... 2018 Thomas A. Simone Award winner as top Kansas City-area player ... all-state as a junior and senior ... first-team All-Eastern Kansas League as a junior and senior ... led Blue Valley North to Class 6A state championship as junior and runner-up finish as a senior ... completed 61.1% of his passes for 3,886 yards and a state-record 51 touchdowns as a senior, also rushing for 267 yards and 4 TDs ... completed 62.0% of his passes for 3,684 yards and 45 TDs as a junior, adding 455 yards and 5 touchdowns rushing ... finished career with 96 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions ... four-year honor roll student ... coach was Andy Sims
Personal: Parents are Ron and Amy Mertz ... father played football at Minnesota from 1989-92 ... sister Lauren Mertz played basketball at Kansas State in 2014-15 ... sister Mya Mertz plays basketball at Drake
