Recruiting Snapshot: Wisconsin Badgers
While most of college football has been put on hold, recruiting marches on. The class of 2021 has seen a wave of commitments since the start of April, and the team rankings have adjusted to reflect growing classes. We are taking a snapshot of each class in their order of the Rivals Team Rankings, and continue today with a look at the Wisconsin Badgers.
MORE SNAPSHOTS: Clemson | Florida | Michigan | North Carolina | Ohio State | Tennessee
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
WISCONSIN
Current rank: No. 15
Number of commits: 10
Top commits: Four-star OL J.P. Benzschawel (No. 140), four-star DB Hunter Wohler (No. 145), three-star OL Riley Mahlman
Top targets: Four-star DE T.J. Bollers (No. 97), three-star DE Darryl Peterson, three-star TE Jack Pugh
LOCAL REACTION
"Bollers could be Wisconsin's top remaining target in the 2021 class, regardless of position. The Badgers would love to pair him with fellow edge prospect Darryl Peterson, who has UW in his top three along with Alabama and West Virginia. Bollers and Peterson both visited Madison on March 1 and are scheduled to return for their officials the weekend of June 12. The bigger position of need, however, is tight end, with Pugh sitting atop UW's recruiting board. The staff hosted the three-star prospect twice in the fall and most recently on March 1 for a junior day. You could also make a case for four-star offensive tackle Nolan Rucci, but he is more of a luxury than a need with commitments already in from Benzschawel and Mahlman." – Jon McNamara, BadgerBlitz.com
NATIONAL REACTION
"Just a few weeks back, Wisconsin’s class was comfortably in the top 10, but now it sits at No. 15 as other programs have added prospects. Wisconsin’s commitment list has not grown to keep pace, with Tennessee running back Antwan Roberts the only addition of the spring so far.
"Wisconsin always recruits small classes compared to its Big Ten brethren, landing in the bottom half of the conference in that statistic each of the last four classes. Those four classes each ranked in the top half of the conference, so Wisconsin is still landing quality. And, the Badgers develop the talent they have as well as any team in the country, as was shown again in the most recent NFL Draft when it had four players selected. Just two of Wisconsin’s 10 commits in 2021 are rated four-stars, but I doubt Paul Chryst is too concerned." – Josh Helmholdt, Midwest recruiting analyst