Graham Mertz put together the best season-opening performance by a Wisconsin quarterback in school history and the awards for that effort started rolling in Monday.

The Big Ten named him the conference’s co-Offensive Player of the Week and the Freshman of the Week. Mertz becomes the first Wisconsin player since Jonathan Taylor to win either honor.

Mertz threw for 248 yards and a school-record-tying five touchdowns in Wisconsin’s 45-7 victory against Illinois. He completed a program-record 95.2% of this passes and started by hitting on 17 straight, which tied a school record.

The awards aren’t likely to make anyone feel better about the bad news surrounding the redshirt freshman. The Wisconsin State Journal reported Sunday that Mertz tested positive for COVID-19. A second test was done to confirm the positive and UW is awaiting the results.

The Badgers are scheduled to play at Nebraska this Saturday.