Wisconsin Football 2025

[nate82]

15 minutes ago, yfinn6 said:

Probably about tree-fiddy. 

So more than what WI would pay dang Loch Ness monster!!!!

[yfinn6]

Latimer is probably (maybe? who knows) a great college RB but I'm fine with someone who left at the last minute to go to West Virginia, a school I'm not sure they ever visited. Whatever. College football is dumb. 

[nate82]

The NCAA needs to put in a rule for NIL that a player needs to sign a letter of intent to go to a school before NIL money can be discussed.  This should hopefully slow down the late hey we will give you money to go here instead while never being offered anything until signing day.

Also they need to have it so it is a contract for two years.  So the player actually has to commit for more than a year or give up the remaining NIL money if they want to transfer after the first year.  I think that should help stabilize this a bit at least for a year or two.

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

I wonder how much he got paid for that flip.

Evan Flood is reporting that his ask was upper 6-figures, close to 7-figures.

I'd rather they put that money towards OL and DL in the portal.

[LouisEly]

I can't post the entire tweet because it violates policies here regarding language 😁, but Amari Lattimer went live on Instagram today.  I have an increased appreciation and affinity for UW's Dilin Jones...

[JosephC]

McIntosh should have kept his pie-hole shut about bigger investments "recruiting and retention."  It's one thing to lose a top recruit to Oklahoma, but it's a entirely different story to make statements like that and then lose the best player remaining in the class to West Virginia.  Badger football is doomed as long as this moron is running the athletic department.

[yfinn6]

27 minutes ago, JosephC said:

McIntosh should have kept his pie-hole shut about bigger investments "recruiting and retention."  It's one thing to lose a top recruit to Oklahoma, but it's a entirely different story to make statements like that and then lose the best player remaining in the class to West Virginia.  Badger football is doomed as long as this moron is running the athletic department.

Mac is a moron and should be fired but the program was smart not to give this much money. After next season he's going to want double or he'll walk. I know Fickell needs to win now but he has bigger areas of concern. Keep the guys you have and find a QB and OL/DL. 

 

[tmwiese55]

I don't follow it closely anymore due to the craziness now.  But generally speaking, it is much better to spend your money on OL than RBs. Especially at the current state of UW football.   But just in general, its been proven for years now in the NFL that any competent RB can do well behind a good OL. Whereas drop Jeantie behind the Raiders OL this year and he can't do squat. Or years and years of high pick RBs flopping in the 90s early 00s because they got drafted to crap teams with no lines.  You could have had Saquon Barkley behind UWs line this year and he wouldn't have done much.

And go back to our prime running days here, its no coincidence that the 3rd string would come in and do just as well as the starter and whoever the new RB was every year still did well.  Even no NFL talent guys like Anthony Davis and PJ Hill.   First step to competency for UW is strengthening OL and keep building DL/LBs.   In addition, OL is probably a 'moneyball' area of the market where you can get way more bang for you back than hyped RB/WRs getting overpaid.  Now, did they spend or have enough money to buy or the knowledge to evaluate good OL/DL? IDK, don't follow it closely enough.

[JosephC]

They aren't saving all their money for offensive linemen (although they for sure will pick up a couple transfers), I think they are going to throw all the money at a quarterback.

[JosephC]

Looking at the national scene, of the Rivals Top 300, there are only a handful of guys that have not given a verbal, but there are 33 Top 300 players that did not sign a letter of intent today.  So even though the Badgers haven't been linked to a single one of these guys (to my knowledge), maybe they is some hope that there is a surprise flip on Friday.

[tmwiese55]

13 minutes ago, JosephC said:

They aren't saving all their money for offensive linemen (although they for sure will pick up a couple transfers), I think they are going to throw all the money at a quarterback.

We'll see, like I said I don't follow it closely anymore since its gone nuts.   But, if that's how they allocate their money, well good luck to them, we'll see if they have jobs in a year.  I think its been proven for years and years now that teams are built in the trenches and that's how to get to competency.   Basically, even great talent positions can't do squat if the OL is trash. However, mediocre talent positions can still do very well if they have OL.   IMO, you could've had Trevor Lawrence behind this line and he wouldn't have been able to do anything.   If I'm them, I focus on OL and then a mid level QB like they've gotten the last few years will be fine if they stay healthy.    Can you win the B1G or make playoffs with out a better QB? Probably not, but I'm not worried about that right now, just get back to being competent.  

Plus, what legit good QB is gonna want to come here right now anyway or want to play behind a bad line which gives him no shot of success.  So, focus on OL and be satisfied with mid level adequate QB would be my route.    Unless they somehow do have tons of money to do both, which I of course doubt. 

[JosephC]

I'm going to assume they are done with the high schoolers.  Time to take a brief look at the scholarship situation.

QB - They only have 3 scholarship guys on the roster (usually like to have 5), and one of the three is Danny O'Neil who looks like a guaranteed transfer, and one will be an incoming true freshman.  Needless to say, they will be looking at added at least 2 transfers and it's not crazy to think they will add 3 like they did last year.

RB - They have 5, generally teams like to have 7-8. so there is definitely room for a couple more.  I don't think this group was nearly good enough last year, so there is a good chance they will look for an impact player here.

WR - They only have 8, which is a concerning number.  Kekahuna briefly tried the portal last year, there has been some speculation that he might try it again.  They will likely look to add at least 2 and, again, need to find a real playmaker.

TE = They have 7, could look to add one more.  Overall this looks like the best and most settled of the offensive skill position groups.

OL - Generally 15 is the number, although Gary Anderson's number was 14, and they only have 13 now.  So a good bet that they will be adding 2 via transfer.

EDGE/DL - They have 15, but will probably be looking for an impact Edge player at Peterson and Reiger were both seniors.

LB - They have 11, which is probably 1 more than they need.  Should be good here.

CB - They have 7.  Could use one more.

S - They have 6, rumor had it they really wanted to add one in this high school recruiting class but struck out.

So the 85 scholarship limit is gone, but still a good benchmark.  Badgers currently only at 77 which does not seem like a good number because guys will be leaving, and frankly last years group of transfers left a lot to be desired.

[LouisEly]

Fickell knows that his behind hinges on the first 6-8 games of 2026, so he is going to focus his time and Uncle Ted's money on the portal instead of HS guys who aren't going to do anything for him next year.  If they sign, great, if they don't, find a guy in the portal who will (and not change his mind two days later).

[JosephC]

First transfer guy lasted all of 2 days before flipping to Kansas.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

EDGE/DL - They have 15, but will probably be looking for an impact Edge player at Peterson and Reiger were both seniors.

I think they only add one more as Jaylen Williams should get some starting time as an edge rusher next year along with Nicolas Clayton.  Plus EDGE should be considered a OLB and not a defensive lineman.  Most defenses use the EDGE as a OLB or they line up traditionally where a 3-4 linebacker would line up.  UW also uses there defensive lineman more like DT than anything else.  

 

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

LB - They have 11, which is probably 1 more than they need.  Should be good here.

I don't think they add here and they look good.  If you include EDGE as a LB which I believe you should they are fine here.  

 

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

CB - They have 7.  Could use one more.

I think they need to add at least 2-3 more.  

 

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

QB - They only have 3 scholarship guys on the roster (usually like to have 5), and one of the three is Danny O'Neil who looks like a guaranteed transfer, and one will be an incoming true freshman.  Needless to say, they will be looking at added at least 2 transfers and it's not crazy to think they will add 3 like they did last year.

They will get at least two from the portal as I am not sure Carter Smith is ready yet.  Maybe by mid season next year he will be ready but it is hard to tell with Freshman and how fast they can mature or not mature.  

 

[RedStickBrew]

5 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I think they only add one more as Jaylen Williams should get some starting time as an edge rusher next year along with Nicolas Clayton.  Plus EDGE should be considered a OLB and not a defensive lineman.  Most defenses use the EDGE as a OLB or they line up traditionally where a 3-4 linebacker would line up.  UW also uses there defensive lineman more like DT than anything else.  

 

I don't think they add here and they look good.  If you include EDGE as a LB which I believe you should they are fine here.  

 

I think they need to add at least 2-3 more.  

 

They will get at least two from the portal as I am not sure Carter Smith is ready yet.  Maybe by mid season next year he will be ready but it is hard to tell with Freshman and how fast they can mature or not mature.  

 

Plus they will need to account for all the players that will declare for the portal. 15-20 is not out of the question. They will be very busy filling roster spots

[CheezWizHed]

14 hours ago, nate82 said:

The NCAA needs to put in a rule for NIL that a player needs to sign a letter of intent to go to a school before NIL money can be discussed.  This should hopefully slow down the late hey we will give you money to go here instead while never being offered anything until signing day.

Also they need to have it so it is a contract for two years.  So the player actually has to commit for more than a year or give up the remaining NIL money if they want to transfer after the first year.  I think that should help stabilize this a bit at least for a year or two.

Agreed, I've been on the 2-year NIL deals for a while.  The constant churn makes college sports feel more like pick-up games instead of team play. 

[JosephC]

The Badgers picked up a safety this morning, Kah'ni Watts from Texas.  He's way down the list of safeties (Rivals has him a #133 on the safeties list, #203 on the Texas Prospects list), but he helps an area that the staff had prioritized as a specific need.  Rumors in Madison indicated they felt this was a real weak spot and had been pursing safeties very hard late in the process.

[LouisEly]

Yes, at this point they only have 6 scholarship safeties coming back (Jarvis may be on year-to-year if they have open schollies available, but he was a walk-on).  Unknown if Zachman will get a medical redshirt as he's played in 3 games.

[JosephC]

For some reason Iowa made an announcement that Ferentz will be back coaching next year.  I realize the guy is old, but it didn't seem retirement was on his radar.

Running point total of head-to-head matchups-

Ferentz = 94, Fickell = 16

[nate82]

The Athletic has a good read on the pay for NIL.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6852076/2025/12/02/high-school-recruiting-nil-quarterback/

As everyone suspected QB’s, linemen and edge get the bulk of the money.  TE, WR, RB, DB and LB get less. Though some may get more if they start right away.  Some players also don’t get paid at all other than the scholarship.  

[LouisEly]

Redshirt FR WR Kyan-Berry Johnson has announced he is entering the portal.  He appeared in one game this year.

[JosephC]

Pitt bailed on the @ Wisconsin game this upcoming season.  Both team's websites indicate this was a mutual agreement, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that it was Pitt that backed out.  This series was going to be a home-and-home, but the Pitt home part of that got moved to Dublin...so I can only assume Pitt did not want to have to play road game and a neutral field game as this series.

Pretty wimpy move to back out of this game considering the state of the Badger program.  I would figure other teams would be lining up to try and get a win against a Big 10 team.  The Badgers certainly won't be any type of powerhouse next year, and their schedule is light enough where the opponents should not be ending up with a 3-9 weak spot on their strength of schedule ranking at the end of the year.

The Badgers will now play Eastern Michigan instead.  They still have Notre Dame on their schedule, so the out of conference schedule isn't a complete cakewalk.

Badgers now have home games against Western Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Rutgers...those 4 games alone should match their win total for this year.  Road games at Maryland, Penn State and Purdue, this could be the easiest schedule in the Big 10 next year.

[Underachiever]

On 12/2/2025 at 5:51 PM, JosephC said:

Badger lose tight end commit Jack Janda.  He flipped to Iowa where he will play the defensive line.  Never a good thing to lose a committed recruit to Iowa.

Imagine a TE switching to DLine. When has that EVER worked out?

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 12/4/2025 at 7:57 AM, CheezWizHed said:

Agreed, I've been on the 2-year NIL deals for a while.  The constant churn makes college sports feel more like pick-up games instead of team play. 

This whole NIL thing was handled like **** from the get go. It should've been structured as the athletes being allowed to go out & cut their own deals if they wish, with whatever businesses are interested. No school involvement. Hire representation if you wish to have someone handle it for you. And if you appear in an ad or commercial, leave the school uni at home---it's YOUR name, image & likeness, not the schools'.

Wayyyy too late for any of this of course. And if it was by some miracle implemented, I'm sure some schools would illegally get involved in the proce$$. But trying to police something like that would be much better than the nonsense we're seeing now.

With the genie out of the bottle, yeah, 2-year deals would certainly be an improvement.