Wisconsin football recruiting: Updates on A.J. Alexander, Osa Masina, Shaquery Wilson

Hello, I'm Andrew Rosin. You might remember me from "Recruiting Notebook: It looks as if the Badgers are going to get so many good running backs" and "Recruiting Notebook: Oh God, they didn't get any running backs." If you need to guess why you're here, I'd assume it's 20 percent writing style and 80 percent hot recruiting news.

Brothers and sisters, it seems like the Wisconsin Badgers are one one of those upswings. Use this for succor, because it can get barren on these recruiting streets.

Osa Masina: The official plan for Masina (4* Utah 2015 LB) is that he will visit on the weekend of Oct. 24 for the Maryland game. Now it's early on the schedule and the odds are somewhat slim of Wisconsin pulling off a closed deal on that date, as he does have plans for an official visit to USC on Nov. 29. But the Badgers are going to have Dominic Sheppard, Mohamed Barry and the immortal Austin Kafentzis here that weekend. And that Kafentzis guy? Well...

Austin Kafentzis: There's a real possibility that Kafentzis (3* 2015 Utah QB) could have a shot at some national player of the year consideration if disaster doesn't strike. Last Friday, the Beetdigger threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for another 240 and crossed the goal line four more times in a 55-52 win over Pleasant Grove. On the year, he's averaging over 400 yards of total offense and accounting for five scores a game. Get your Bll Brasky-esque facts in early, because this could get ridiculous.

Jordan Scarlett: I'm going to talk about this further, but in an odd bit of recruiting schadenfreude, Scarlett (4* 2015 Fla. RB, Miami commit) was at the Ohio State game last Saturday. So were five-star running back Damien Harris and four-star running back Jaques Patrick. Yes, Ohio State brought three running backs into town on the same weekend. Points for the hubris. Insert the joke you want to make about Hubris beating Ohio State on Saturday 28-14 here. Sure, it means nothing outside of the fact Ohio State thinks it can flip the Miami commit on the fact it's Ohio State alone. More often than not, the Buckeyes do.

But Wisconsin has Scarlett at the tippy-top of its board right now, and he's slated to visit on Sept. 27. No running back will likely come before then, and that's the weekend noted closer Kyle Penniston also comes to Madison for his official visit. Wisconsin definitely wants Scarlett worse than Ohio State does. Will it mean anything? Watch this space.

A.J. Alexander: Speaking of those nut-eyed devils at an Ohio state university, it seems as if they are the only competition that remains for Alexander (3* 2015 Va. WR). North Carolina's fallen by the wayside. The recruiting is, in a nutshell, this simple: The Badgers want him as a wide receiver, the Buckeyes are pitching him as this sort of Jimmy Graham-type hybrid thing. He visits Ohio State ($) on Sept. 27.

Shaquery Wilson: Even if Alexander decides to be some sort of hybrid, Urban Meyer-loving jerk, it doesn't mean the Badgers are out of play in the receiving game. Wilson (3* 2015 Ga. WR, Georgia commit) was offered by Wisconsin in mid-June, Georgia came in a couple of days later with an offer to play wide receiver and earned the commitment. Fair enough. The thing of it is, if he wants to play receiver, Georgia's getting deep in that kind of athlete. Terry Godwin, Van Jefferson, Michael Chigbu and Christian Owens are all four-stars or better at the position. The Bulldogs are also favorites to get a four-star New Orleans athlete in Donte Jackson and running top-two to get suburban Atlanta receiver Darius Slayton.

So why am I telling you this? Because there's a chance the Badgers could end up with a talented receiver who was previously committed to Georgia for the second time in two seasons. Wilson plans to make a visit for the Bowling Green game next Saturday. It doesn't mean they will, but the Badgers aren't coming back from seventh to try and make a late charge to flip him, either.

Ke'Shawn Vaughn: A more underrated aspect of recruiting weirdness is the schadenfreude you get when dealing with prospects you like whom you're trailing for. I mean, sure, going against a school like Ohio State and feeling some sort of enmity towards them is only natural. But the "Red Mamba" (3* 2015 TN RB) is a Nashville native, and the Pearl Cohn prospect seems to have had Vanderbilt in the lead for the longest time. He also had plans to commit on Sept. 26.

But the Commodores have crashed and burned the first two games of the season, including a 42-3 loss to Ole Miss that seems like an upgrade only because Temple got them by 30 the week before. Add to that their only shining light on offense seems to be a freshman running back in Ralph Webb, and you can understand why Vaughn seems to have put his plans up in the air ($).

He's made unofficial visits to Louisville and Vanderbilt, but no one has earned an official visit weekend. As I've said before, the Badgers aren't likely to bring in another running back before Scarlett. But if you're wondering if you should get hyped for a possible Vaughn commitment, he's already rushed for 735 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Interviewing Ke'Shawn Vaughn of Pearl-Cohn who has 735yds on 26 carries and 10TDS in 3 games this season pic.twitter.com/XAUs6cTdXj

— macyoung3 (@macyoung3) September 6, 2014

Basketball quick-hitters

Esa Ahmad: On Thursday, the Badgers' coaching staff is going to make a home visit for Ahmad (4* 2015 Ohio PF). That's good. Unfortunately, Ahmad might be looking at a top three, and Wisconsin won't be getting an on-campus visit. Maryland, Ohio State and West Virginia all received visits, and if Ahmad looks like he wants to make a decision by the end of September, Wisconsin needs to get a visit quickly.

Jarvis Johnson and Alex Illikainen: Joining Wilson and Badgers commit Kevin Estes for Bowling Green weekend will be the AAU teammates from Howard Pulley (Minnesota). The Badgers are in a good position with both prospects, and look to close the deal in roughly 10 days.