Wisconsin sophomore quarterback Jack Coan will give up a redshirt season to start against Miami in next week’s New Era Pinstripe Bowl, coach Paul Chryst confirmed Thursday.
Coan will start in place of junior Alex Hornibrook, who continues to deal with symptoms from a concussion sustained earlier this season. Coan will be making his fourth start and fifth appearance, which means he cannot apply the redshirt rule to regain a year of eligibility. The Sayville, N.Y. native, has completed 61 percent of his passes for 442 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions this season.
Miami and Wisconsin meet Dec. 27 at Yankee Stadium (5:15 ET, ESPN).
“Alex really did participate in a couple weeks of bowl practices and then had some reoccurring [symptoms], so we’re going with Jack” Chryst said Thursday morning. “This is one more great opportunity for [Coan] to be able to start.”
Chryst said he doesn’t know the long-term outlook for Hornibrook, who has started the past three seasons for Wisconsin. Hornibrook saw a specialist in Michigan during the regular season about the lingering effects from his concussion, and returned to practice before the symptoms resurfaced. Chryst said there was no recurrence of the concussion during Wisconsin’s regular-season finale against Minnesota.
Coan’s father, Mike, broke the news of his son’s upcoming start Wednesday night on Twitter.
“Jack’s been awesome, he’s excited,” Chryst said. “We didn’t go into this season saying, ‘We want to redshirt you.’ We went into this season saying, ‘We want your snaps to be meaningful.”