WISCruiting Weekly: September 7, 2012

Ed. note: During the football season, B5Q will provide a weekly roundup of football recruiting updates for its readers.

I recently posted about recruiting rankings and their significance, but regardless of the rankings, the analysis and potential of each high school player is what provides excitement to fans across the country. The following is a look at the latest on Badger Football recruiting.

As we all know, the 2013 class will be small due to the number of scholarships available. This provides a challenge for Wisconsin coaches as they have to be highly selective and creative with how their offer players. So far, for the 2013 class, there are several highly touted commits – OT Darius Latham, DE Chikwe Obasih, DE Alec James, ATH Austin Ramesh, and WR Rob Wheelwright.

Here are the latest updates on key potential recruits:

CB Sojourn Shelton: 5’9", 160lbs – Fort Lauderdale, FL
Arguably the most covered recruiting story for Wisconsin at this time, Shelton just took an official visit to Madison for the first game against UNI. He is a smaller cover corner but is very quick and plays with high confidence. He is a 3-4 star player in the 2013 class who makes up for his lack of height with his jumping ability – a vertical of 34 inches. Coupled with his long reach, Shelton could be a rising star at the cover corner position. If you follow him on Twitter (@SDS_24), you know how excited he is and has been about the Badgers – to the point where avid followers thought he would commit during his visit. Shelton originally committed to Florida State but has since opened up his recruiting and is weighing options. Though he is taking other visits, it’s pretty clear that Wisconsin is his favorite now.

RB Corey Clement: 5’11", 205lbs – Glassboro, NJ
Originally a '13 Pitt commit, Clement has opened up recruiting as well and has an official visit to Wisconsin set for 9/14/12. He is a prototypical running back that Wisconsin has grown accustomed to – a bigger back that runs north and south. With his great vision and patience in waiting for blocks, he does fit the mold of an RB that Wisconsin likes as our offensive lines have been great at opening lanes and getting to the second level. The only knock on Clement is that he lacks breakaway speed – something that Wisconsin has seen a little bit of anyway with Ron Dayne, John Clay and Montee Ball. Though Clement is set to visit Wisconsin in a little over a week, my guy says that he’ll sign elsewhere. Not much of a concern as Wisconsin already has a bevy of RBs and is targeting other RBs in this class anyway.

DE Conor Sheehy: 6’4", 250lbs – Milwaukee, WI
Before really even getting his recruitment started, '14 DE Conor Sheehy came away impressed enough with the program and facilities to give Bielema a verbal commitment on Wednesday. He earned offers from Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern. Sheehy has the frame to put on more weight and will undoubtedly get stronger, and could potentially grow into a strong defensive lineman for the Badgers. Sheehy's high school coach, Jeffrey Mazurczak at Milwaukee Marquette, mentioned that the junior has "a terrific work ethic", will "live in the weight room" and always wants to improve. Those are all attributes that Wisconsin looks for in a recruit so it’s good to see an early commitment from another strong in-state defensive end.

Wisconsin is also continuing to target RB David Williams, S Jalen Banks, ATH Marcus Ball (brother of current Badger, Ray Ball), and CB Boaz Joseph among others. The Badgers are still in need of a QB and RB for the 2013 class, and rumors were that UW hosted a quarterback this past weekend.