Wisconsin Football 2023

[MVP2110]

36 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The offers were extended by the previous regime, not by Fickell, and new coaches can pull existing offers just like kids who commit can decommit if there is a new coach.  I also know people who are very well connected within the program who can confirm that Fickell & co. were not very interested in them and the only reason they didn't pull the offers were for PR reasons.  If Harbour was very interested in coming they would have taken him, but they stopped recruiting the RB.  And Sexton hasn't committed to anyone.

And have you ever known recruiting rankings to be wrong?  I can name a lot of 4-star kids who never panned out.  And 0-star walk-ons who went on to have a long NFL career.

Per Jesse Temple Wisconsin pulled their offers to Harbour & Smith so it's not so much a recruiting loss as a bold choice not to pursue two 4 star prospects from Wisconsin. I'm not going to pretend my evaluation skills are on the level of Fickell or Longo so I'll cautiously trust them on this, but from an optics standpoint it's weird to come in and talk about how important in state recruiting is and then not pursue two separate four star guys that have earned other major P5 offers

As for the stars thing of course there are exceptions to the rule but there are also a lot of studies done showing the correlation between getting 4 and 5 star guys and winning at a high level. Stars matter

Edit: although as I say that Evan Flood says not to believe everything we'll hear today and that he'll share more on signing day, so who knows.

[LouisEly]

Probably a real blurry line between "pulled the offer" and "not re-offered".  What I'm hearing is, in a nutshell, that "it takes two to tango" and Harbour didn't really show much interest in Wisconsin so Fickell decided their time and effort was better spent elsewhere.  IIRC, one of if not Fickell's first field trip right after he got the job was to Catholic Memorial HS, so I have no reason to doubt that.

Some kids, if they get an opportunity, just want to get the hell out of Wisconsin. 

[homer]

8 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Probably a real blurry line between "pulled the offer" and "not re-offered".  What I'm hearing is, in a nutshell, that "it takes two to tango" and Harbour didn't really show much interest in Wisconsin so Fickell decided their time and effort was better spent elsewhere.  IIRC, one of if not Fickell's first field trip right after he got the job was to Catholic Memorial HS, so I have no reason to doubt that.

Some kids, if they get an opportunity, just want to get the hell out of Wisconsin. 

Didn't Harbour move here later in childhood? 

[homer]

Bat signal is out again. Sounds like they got a few commits that came on official visits this weekend.

[homer]

Here's the first one (a tall corner! Woot!):

 

[homer]

2nd one

 

[homer]

Another one en route:

 

[homer]

wow, nice pickup

 

 

[areacodes]

Another lineman from PA.

 

[nate82]

Schedule for 2024 and protected games:

The protected games

Ohio State vs. Michigan

USC vs. UCLA

Indiana vs. Purdue

Minnesota vs. Wisconsin

Michigan vs. Michigan State

Iowa vs. Minnesota

Illinois vs. Northwestern

Iowa vs. Nebraska

Rutgers vs. Maryland

Iowa vs. Wisconsin

Illinois vs. Purdue

2024 Schedule:

Conference opponents

USC: at Maryland, at Northwestern, at Penn State, at Purdue, at UCLA, vs. Illinois, vs. Iowa, vs. Michigan, vs. Wisconsin

Wisconsin: at Iowa, at Maryland, at Michigan, at Nebraska, at USC, vs. Indiana, vs. Minnesota, vs. Penn State, vs. Purdue

Rutgers: at Maryland, at Michigan State, at Minnesota, at Ohio State, vs. Illinois, vs. Iowa, vs. Michigan, vs. Penn State, vs. UCLA

Purdue: at Illinois, at Indiana, at Maryland, at Michigan State, at Wisconsin, vs. Nebraska, vs. Northwestern, vs. Penn State, vs. USC

Iowa: at Illinois, at Minnesota, at Ohio State, at Rutgers, at USC, vs. Maryland, vs. Nebraska, vs. UCLA, vs. Wisconsin

Maryland: at Illinois, at Indiana, at Iowa, vs. Michigan, vs. Michigan State, vs. Purdue, vs. Rutgers, vs. USC, vs. Wisconsin

Michigan State: at Maryland, at Michigan, at Nebraska, at Penn State, vs. Illinois, vs. Indiana, vs. Ohio State, vs. Purdue, vs. Rutgers

Minnesota: at Indiana, at Michigan, at Nebraska, at UCLA, at Wisconsin, vs. Iowa, vs. Northwestern, vs. Ohio State, vs. Rutgers

Nebraska: at Iowa, at Northwestern, at Penn State, at Purdue, at UCLA, vs. Indiana, vs. Michigan State, vs. Minnesota, vs. Wisconsin

UCLA: at Indiana, at Iowa, at Michigan, at Rutgers, vs. Minnesota, vs. Nebraska, vs. Northwestern, vs. Ohio State, vs. USC

Northwestern: at Minnesota, at Ohio State, at Penn State, at Purdue, at UCLA, vs. Illinois, vs. Indiana, vs. Nebraska, vs. USC

Illinois: at Michigan State, at Northwestern, at Ohio State, at Rutgers, at USC, vs. Iowa, vs. Maryland, vs. Michigan, vs. Purdue

Indiana: at Michigan State, at Nebraska, at Northwestern, at Wisconsin, vs. Maryland, vs. Minnesota, vs. Penn State, vs. Purdue, vs. UCLA

Penn State: at Indiana, at Purdue, at Rutgers, at Wisconsin, vs. Michigan State, vs. Nebraska, vs. Northwestern, vs. Ohio State, vs. USC

Michigan: at Illinois, at Ohio State, at Rutgers, at USC, vs. Maryland, vs. Michigan State, vs. Minnesota, vs. UCLA, vs. Wisconsin

Ohio State: at Michigan State, at Minnesota, at Penn State, at UCLA, vs. Illinois, vs. Iowa, vs. Michigan, vs. Northwestern, vs. Rutgers

Ohio State gets a fairly easy conference schedule in 2024.  Michigan and Penn State being the only two hard games everything else is extremely soft. 

[tmwiese55]

I believe they get Bama in both 24 and 25 too.  Two very tough schedule years, essentially Fickell gets one year to get up to speed with a blah schedule outside of OSU and ready for the big time in 24/25.    

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 6/8/2023 at 6:09 PM, tmwiese55 said:

I believe they get Bama in both 24 and 25 too.  Two very tough schedule years, essentially Fickell gets one year to get up to speed with a blah schedule outside of OSU and ready for the big time in 24/25.    

Yes. Bama comes to Madison in '24. My dad took me to a UW-LSU game a little over 50 years ago. I believe that was the last time an SEC team came to Camp Randall.

[areacodes]

Two more commits from yesterday and today.

 

[wildcat83]

TE Booker and DB Woodward both have de committed 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, wildcat83 said:

TE Booker and DB Woodward both have de committed 

Strange, because there was only one other TE in the incoming class (Tucker Ashcraft) and Booker committed weeks after Ashcraft anyway. Grant Stec is a '24 recruit & a good one, but Booker committed after Stec announced, too. It could be an NIL thing, but UCLA (his rumored destination) never seemed to be pushing hard for him that I know of.

I heard something second-hand that his folks are Badger fans & pushed him into a decision he didn't want to make. That would be my guess. 

[LouisEly]

No NIL.  UCLA made him pay his own way on an unofficial.  Nothing more than a 17-year-old kid from the midwest falling in love with LA.

On the flip side, looks like they just got 2025 QB Landyn Locke, younger brother of Braedyn Locke.

[BrewerFan]

On 6/22/2023 at 5:19 PM, LouisEly said:

No NIL.  UCLA made him pay his own way on an unofficial.  Nothing more than a 17-year-old kid from the midwest falling in love with LA.

On the flip side, looks like they just got 2025 QB Landyn Locke, younger brother of Braedyn Locke.

It is kinda funny in every sport now when a recruit flips, it's "must have paid him...offered him a bigger NIL deal."

VERY few of these guys are getting NIL and even among those who do, it's the vast minority. 

UCLA is a fun school and if you're an athlete, I certainly get the appeal. Get out of your comfort zone. Plus, we've got transfers now, so a kid can make this decision knowing if it's not what he thinks or what he wants, he can leave in a year or two. I loved my time in school, but a little bit of me wishes I'd have considered most seriously going out of state.

[nate82]

Jordan Turner has been suspended due to a OWI.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/37940392/wisconsin-lb-jordan-turner-suspended-violating-discipline-policy

[Jim French Stepstool]

Latest commit ('24)--CB Omillio Agard from Pennsylvania. A smallish corner, but a consensus 4-star.

With Tressels' defensive schemes they need a lot of DB & safety depth. They seem to be attracting it.

[BrewerFan]

45 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Latest commit ('24)--CB Omillio Agard from Pennsylvania. A smallish corner, but a consensus 4-star.

With Tressels' defensive schemes they need a lot of DB & safety depth. They seem to be attracting it.

That's a big one. If he'd picked 'Bama(who offered) he'd be a top 150 prospect in about 6 weeks).

 

2nd highest rated CB the Badgers have picked up in the "internet recruiting era," per TheAthletic. 
2nd straight year with a 4 star.

They've got a top 150 Safety who should be emerging this year in Woehler. 

This staff has a LOT of momentum. More than I could have possibly imagined this time last year. 
Their '24 class was already a top 20 class and if they can routinely pull in top 20 classes with competent QBs, get the OL play back up to par...I don't think it'll happen, but I COULD see this team in the CFP in the future....down the road. 

This year, B1G West is very winnable. 

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

10 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

 

They've got a top 150 Safety who should be emerging this year in Woehler. 

 

 

If I understand the way Tressel likes to defend, I wouldn't be surprised if Wohler spends some time as sort of a LB-S hybrid. I've always liked him.

[BrewerFan]

9 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

If I understand the way Tressel likes to defend, I wouldn't be surprised if Wohler spends some time as sort of a LB-S hybrid. I've always liked him.

That's how he's been used thus far. I did get to see him play in HS and he just laid the wood on guys. It was impressive. 

Now...that's HS, but there have been a lot of talented players to come from that conference and he's the best I've seen.

[BrewerFan]

Badgers get another 4 star. #1 recruit from Minnesota!

 

https://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2023/7/4/23783870/breaking-wisconsin-badgers-land-four-star-ol-emerson-mandell-luke-fickell-phil-longo-mike-tressel

[areacodes]

On 7/2/2023 at 1:51 AM, BrewerFan said:

I don't think it'll happen, but I COULD see this team in the CFP in the future....down the road. 

With the expanded playoffs it should be an expectation that the Badgers are in it every few years or they’ve taken a tumble as a program.

Since 1998, if they would have had the expanded playoffs instead of the BCS, the Badgers have had 8 teams finish in the top 12 - so roughly every three years on average.

[homer]

4 star RB committed today.