Wisconsin Football 2022- The Jim Leonhard Show ends, the Luke Fickell era begins

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

 

Thanks for the bowl win Chase. You are now 5th on the depth chart.

[nate82]

That is what 5 QB's on the team now?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

2 minutes ago, nate82 said:

That is what 5 QB's on the team now?

Mordecai, Locke, Evers, Burkett, Wolf and Marshall Howe

[Brewcrew82]

19 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Mordecai, Locke, Evers, Burkett, Wolf and Marshall Howe

Don't forget LaCrue. I think Burkett is pretty much a lock to transfer at this point.

[stoutdude04]

This is wild - as someone else said, this must be what it is like to be the Yankees, Dodgers, etc.

[homer]

 

 

[wallus]

The football program must be spending like the Mets this offseason. 

[homer]

 

 

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Don't forget LaCrue. I think Burkett is pretty much a lock to transfer at this point.

I don't know that we know that playing is more important that being close to home and getting a good education for Burkett.

And Locke and Evers threw a combined total of one pass (that was incomplete) in 2022.  Yes, they were 4-star recruits, but at this point we don't know if they are closer to a Joe Burrow transfer or a Hunter Johnson/Ryan Hillinski transfer.  Those two were 4-star recruits too.  (Actually, Johnson was a 5-star according to 24/7 composite.)

The fact that both Evers and Locke were accepted makes me less excited and more concerned that the coaches aren't completely sold on either one.

[Brewcrew82]

Just now, LouisEly said:

I don't know that we know that playing is more important that being close to home and getting a good education for Burkett.

And Locke and Evers threw a combined total of one pass (that was incomplete) in 2022.  Yes, they were 4-star recruits, but at this point we don't know if they are closer to a Joe Burrow transfer or a Hunter Johnson/Ryan Hillinski transfer.  Those two were 4-star recruits too.  (Actually, Johnson was a 5-star according to 24/7 composite.)

True. But there are whispers that one of our current QBs will be leaving the program. Burkett is the most likely candidate in that sense, as Wolf is primarily focused on his grad program at UW at this stage.

Mordecai is 99.9% likely to be the starting QB in 2023, and while he departs after the season, Mettauer will then be entering the program. So, he's looking up at 4 four star QBs on the depth chart. Granted, recruiting stars don't mean everything, and there's always a chance he develops into the WI version of Stetson Bennett, but that's still a very far fetched scenario. 

[LouisEly]

https://twitter.com/jaypo1961/status/1612918304993058835

 

Edit: I give up on trying to post tweets.

[Samurai Bucky]

18 hours ago, homer said:

"The quarterback room there is going to be crazy and you know you have a great o-line all the time at #Wisconsin"

I hope the Badgers continue to recruit good offensive lineman.  They have been HUGE (6' 7" and bigger).  When Gary Andersen came to Wisconsin, he recruited smaller lineman.  I was not a fan.

Hopefully, the Badgers can keep the tradition of the excellent Offensive Line going.

[Samurai Bucky]

17 hours ago, LouisEly said:

And Locke and Evers threw a combined total of one pass (that was incomplete) in 2022.  Yes, they were 4-star recruits, but at this point we don't know if they are closer to a Joe Burrow transfer or a Hunter Johnson/Ryan Hillinski transfer.  Those two were 4-star recruits too.  (Actually, Johnson was a 5-star according to 24/7 composite.)

The fact that both Evers and Locke were accepted makes me less excited and more concerned that the coaches aren't completely sold on either one.

I was surprised that all of them decided to Wisconsin.  For me, I am stoked that there are top-quality kids that want to come to Wisconsin.  Let them work hard, battle it out, and the cream will rise to the top.  For those who don't get the playing time, the portal is available.  They did a great job of getting Mordecai to play this year to stagger the quarterbacks.

Fickell and Longo have a great pedigree with recruiting and developing quarterbacks.  Wide receivers may start coming in droves.  Longo coached DK Metcalf and AJ Brown.

I am nervous, however, about OL, DL, and RB.  Yes Allen and Chez are here this year, but what is coming after that?  The RB tradition at Wisconsin is (almost) second to none over the past 20-30 years.

[Samurai Bucky]

19 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I am nervous, however, about ... RB.  Yes Allen and Chez are here this year, but what is coming after that?  The RB tradition at Wisconsin is (almost) second to none over the past 20-30 years.

Sorry for quoting myself, but I saw this:

 

[CheezWizHed]

18 hours ago, LouisEly said:

https://twitter.com/jaypo1961/status/1612918304993058835

 

Edit: I give up on trying to post tweets.

FYI, I just waited a little bit before saving and it automatically got the picture.

[wildcat83]

Badgers adding two WR from Cincy in Quincy Burroughs and Will Pauling.  Nice to see they are making that room deeper, but both are 3 stars with very little experience this past year.  Still waiting for a bigger splash at WR, that seems to be one of the glaring areas of need yet for the immediate future.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I hope the Badgers continue to recruit good offensive lineman.  They have been HUGE (6' 7" and bigger).  When Gary Andersen came to Wisconsin, he recruited smaller lineman.  I was not a fan.

Hopefully, the Badgers can keep the tradition of the excellent Offensive Line going.

Ditto. I don't think that's something the new staff will overlook. I also think there's a lot of growth potential with the people already there--Riley Mahlman & Trey Wedig have snaps under their belt but are still very young, and I'm fairly bullish on some of the guys who really haven't seen the field yet, like Joe Brunner, Nolan Rucci, and JP Benzschawel. We'll see what kind of development-guy Jack Bicknell is (Fun fact: the famous Hail Mary pass Doug Flutie completed in '84 to beat the U of Miami started with Bicknell. He centered the ball to Flutie to start the play). And one would think the two vets who are coming over from UC won't hurt as far as familiarity & passing on work habits & Bicknells' coaching style to the returnees.

Keeping my fingers crossed they can secure Donovan Harbour of Catholic Memorial. He'd be a great get.

[Jim French Stepstool]

39 minutes ago, wildcat83 said:

Badgers adding two WR from Cincy in Quincy Burroughs and Will Pauling.  Nice to see they are making that room deeper, but both are 3 stars with very little experience this past year.  Still waiting for a bigger splash at WR, that seems to be one of the glaring areas of need yet for the immediate future.

If coached up well, I think both Chimere Dike & Skyler Bell have more to give & can surprise some people, especially Dike. The biggest thing there might be overcoming the propensity to "take some plays off". Hopefully the competition from the Cincy guys makes everyone better.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

  Yes Allen and Chez are here this year, but what is coming after that?  The RB tradition at Wisconsin is (almost) second to none over the past 20-30 years.

I'll admit, my own personal Jury is out on Nate White. I've seen very little of him but what I saw looked a little meh to me.

Good to see they've attracted the attention of the Moeller kid.

[Brewcrew82]

40 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I'll admit, my own personal Jury is out on Nate White. I've seen very little of him but what I saw looked a little meh to me.

Good to see they've attracted the attention of the Moeller kid.

They're also in on, if not the favorite for, Corey Smith out of Waukesha. Consensus 4 star, top 200 RB in the 2024 class. 

[MrTPlush]

On 1/10/2023 at 3:41 PM, wallus said:

The football program must be spending like the Mets this offseason. 

No, they just got rid of their stale in-house coach finally. Said it for years, Badgers needed to grow a pair and take a risk at the HC position. People always thought they couldn’t recruit a QB or WR because of being Wisconsin and being run heavy.

Clearly it was the coach and his inability to know how to recruit these kind of guys.

Sure, maybe Fickell bails in 5 years to go coach Alabama or something…but hopefully by then he has the Badgers as a real force that the top available coach will want to sprint to. 

[wallus]

17 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

No, they just got rid of their stale in-house coach finally. Said it for years, Badgers needed to grow a pair and take a risk at the HC position. People always thought they couldn’t recruit a QB or WR because of being Wisconsin and being run heavy.

Clearly it was the coach and his inability to know how to recruit these kind of guys.

Sure, maybe Fickell bails in 5 years to go coach Alabama or something…but hopefully by then he has the Badgers as a real force that the top available coach will want to sprint to. 

We are definitely making sure these guys get NIL money. It is how the game is played now.

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

If coached up well, I think both Chimere Dike & Skyler Bell have more to give & can surprise some people, especially Dike. The biggest thing there might be overcoming the propensity to "take some plays off". Hopefully the competition from the Cincy guys makes everyone better.

One of the biggest things from last year was that the few receivers they had were out there for almost every play.  They didn't have the depth to rotate players in/out, or just chose not to, and I think that was a big factor in not being able to get open - not having fresh legs.  I think that's been an issue in prior years as well.  Longo has said that he wants the WR room to be 10 deep so that he can rotate guys in and out to keep them fresh.  Hard to do that when you only rotate four WRs in all game.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

One of the biggest things from last year was that the few receivers they had were out there for almost every play.  They didn't have the depth to rotate players in/out, or just chose not to, and I think that was a big factor in not being able to get open - not having fresh legs.  I think that's been an issue in prior years as well.  Longo has said that he wants the WR room to be 10 deep so that he can rotate guys in and out to keep them fresh.  Hard to do that when you only rotate four WRs in all game.

I read that Longo quote. Maybe ten on the roster, but ten getting rotated in regularly? I'll believe that when I see it. I do agree with the "fresh legs" theory though. UW has also traditionally asked WRs to block & be physical maybe a little more than other programs, which has gotten guys like Demetrius Brown, Ahmad Merritt & Jack Dunn on the field over the years. So yeah, depth has been an issue.

[MrTPlush]

11 hours ago, wallus said:

We are definitely making sure these guys get NIL money. It is how the game is played now.

There is only so much NIL money to be had in Madison, WI. I really doubt three star recruits are overly chasing NIL money either. The Badgers go from a joke of a history getting QBs to having half a dozen because Fickell found NIL money between the cushions? I can't imagine there is really much to be had unless you are a big-time recruit or a notable established starter.

No doubt NIL money is a part of the wild transferring, but I don't know every single guy is just out there deciding based on NIL opportunities.