WISCruiting Weekly: October 12, 2012

Well, first things first -- Happy Birthday to yours truly.

Secondly, the Badgers are preparing for an interesting road trip to West Lafayette, IN this weekend to take on Purdue in what could determine who will go to the B1G title game. Let's hope the momentum from the 4th quarter against Illinois carries Wisconsin to another victory.

Now, let's get to more important things, like Wisconsin football recruiting:

CB Sojourn Shelton (Class of 2013): 5'9", 160 lbs - South Plantation, FL

As you probably have heard, Wisconsin received another verbal for the 2013 class in CB Sojourn Shelton on 10/9/2012. I've wrote about him a couple times in these weekly recruiting updates, so even though this isn't shocking news, people should still be excited as we plucked another high profile player out of the state of Florida.

From what I've read, Shelton is a 3/4-star recruit, is very confident in his skills, and opposing quarterbacks do not like throwing in his direction (reminds me of former Wisconsin CB Antonio Fenelus).

From what I've seen, I see a lot more positives than I do negatives for Shelton. He is fast, can make mid-play adjustments to the football, has a nose for the football, breaks up plays, has great hands, can play in several coverages, and is a lock-down defensive back.

The only negatives I see are that he is small (5'9", 160 lbs) and has to learn to form tackle better. However, those are two areas where Shelton can learn to improve quickly at the next level, especially at a place like Wisconsin.

RB Alex Collins (2013): 5'11", 208 lbs - South Plantation, FL

As mentioned last week, Collins made an official visit to Wisconsin for the Illinois game. Also from South Plantation, Collins is a stand-out back and was just recently bumped up to a 5-star running back according to Scout.com. Not only that, but Collins is regarded as the #1 player at his position in Florida...which is saying A LOT.

Collins is averaging over 10 yards per carry and has 11 scores through 5 games. According to his coach, Doug Gatewood, he's gotten a significantly bigger and faster between his junior and senior years. The upside for Collins is very high as he is only in his 2^nd year of varsity high school football.

With the Shelton commitment, it's likely that he will try and convince Collins to commit to Wisconsin as well. Should he commit, the Badger will have a loaded backfield for years to come with James White, Melvin Gordon, Jeff Lewis, and Vonte Jackson all returning next year.

QB Damon Mitchell (2013): 6'2", 175 lbs - Egg Harbor City, NJ

Mitchell made an official visit to Wisconsin along with Collins this past Saturday as the Badgers beat Illinois. At first, he was recruited by several schools as a safety, but after making a switch to the quarterback position in his junior year, schools have changed and have recruited him to that position. After his visit, it sounds like Mitchell did enjoy his visit to Wisconsin but is still firmly committed to Georgia Tech. I wouldn't bank on Mitchell committing to Wisconsin, though the Badgers are still trying to sign a signal-caller in the 2013 class.

Check back here next Friday for more on Wisconsin football recruiting!