Wisconsin Football: 5 biggest questions heading into 2018 spring game

3. How high is Alex Hornibrook’s ceiling?

Soon-to-be junior quarterback Alex Hornibrook capped of the 2017 season on a high note and with promise as his performance in the Orange Bowl against Miami was not like any other Badgers fans had seen all year.

At times, Hornibrook proved to be a liability in the passing game. An accurate passer with great potential, Hornibrook had some costly decision-making at time that led to ill-advised turnovers and playmaking.

More from Wisconsin Badgers

• Wisconsin vs. Purdue: How to watch, odds, injuries, weather, and history
• The Big Ten Championship Game is looking for new locations
• Dilin Jones will be next great Wisconsin football running back
• Wisconsin football: 3 preseason 2023 storylines to follow
• Wisconsin football: Luke Fickell is the second coming of Barry Alvarez

Dealing with critics and doubters all season, Hornibrook was almost flawless in the Orange Bowl, completing 23-of-34 passes for 258 yards and four touchdowns. Outside of the stats, Hornibrook came up clutch on multiple third downs to keep drives alive and was near perfect on his reads- something that had been a problem all year.

With that performance, expectations are high for the junior entering 2018. With a much tougher schedule, Hornibrook cannot rely on the defense to bail him out as many times as they did in 2017. He has shown glimpses of greatnesses and the ability to play at the level everyone needed him to, now he just has to go out and do it.

The experience is there having played majority of his freshman year and all of last year, and with the Badgers returning a lot of talent on both offense and defense, Hornibrook will likely be the x-factor with regards to whether or not the Badgers can make a national championship run.