Wisconsin football recruiting: Previewing the last hours before National Signing Day 2015

I've always said recruiting is a flat circle, and for the second January in a row, the wheels seemed to fall off Wisconsin's developing class. Some of it was self-inflicted wounds (shifts in interests, tendencies between coaching staffs), some of it was the dreaded reasons (academics), but the Badgers shed a lot of steerage off the class of 2015 since Sam Madden was bounced by the Larry Millers in admission last Saturday.

With that in mind, we're going to talk about the five prospects who could change the complexion of UW's class before Wednesday. The Badgers might not be done with the decommitments, but there's also definitely a chance they could get a home run to end the recruiting class.

The targets

OLB Terez Hall
6'3, 205 lbs.
Lithonia, Ga. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Terez Hall had to truncate his recruiting process when people finally discovered he is really good at attacking from the linebacker slot. The Badgers had a strong visit with him on Jan. 29, which is never not a surprise, but then he went to Nebraska the following weekend. The Huskers have been recruiting him really hard, and reports suggest they've done well on their attempt to close.

And then...

Welcome to the #MizFam Lithonia, GA About to be #MizzouMade

— Nick Otterbacher (@Coach_Otter) February 2, 2015

That's Nick Otterbacher, Missouri's director of football recruiting. He had reason to believe that Hall committed to the Tigers, and it's entirely possible that there was a silent commit that the Tigers coach was overly excited for.

With that said, Hall hasn't made anything official yet.

Terez Hall (@Terez2015C) said assumption he committed to #Missouri inaccurate. Has not committed anywhere. May announce on signing day.

— Rob Howe (@HawkeyeInsider) February 2, 2015

The momentum here definitely belongs to Missouri. Wisconsin will likely get into the hat race on Wednesday, but right now, the gut feeling is that Hall will join former Badgers commit Nate Howard with the Tigers.

S Arrington Farrar
6'2, 195 lbs.
Atlanta, Ga. (Woodward Academy)

At long last, the Badgers might have found themselves a strong prospect to close. Notre Dame's visit with Arrington Farrar on Jan. 30 came with a lot of strangeness between a blizzard, head coach Brian Kelly being in Arizona and the position coach that recruited him in Kerry Cooks going to Oklahoma. Is that all a guarantee that the Badgers will get a four-star outside linebacker/safety on National Signing Day?

No, but if you're looking for a good reason to hope the Badgers lock down Farrar, 247Sports' Notre Dame recruiting expert thinks he's coming to Wisconsin. Friends, this is most definitely a good thing.

The potential losses (a.k.a. decisions set for National Signing Day)

At this point, the Badgers are almost done shedding prospects. Running back Davon Crookshank is going elsewhere, but we kind of already knew that. The optics of giving a prospect the fadeaway aside, Crookshank was going to be in a fight for carries his entire career if he came to Madison.

There are still a couple of possible pieces that can be shed on National Signing Day. There is still something left to lose.

LB Jordan Griffin
6'0, 207 lbs.
Seffner, Fla. (Armwood)

Jordan Griffin is going to make his final decision at about 9 a.m. CT on Wednesday, and the trend line for the three-star linebacker prospect is going toward Vanderbilt. Before you get all apoplectic that Griffin would dare leave the Badgers for the Commodores, there are two reasons that this would be a legitimate move for Griffin.

One, academics reportedly matter a great deal in the Griffin household. In his initial commitment announcement, Harvard made the hat race. Yeah, that Harvard. Vanderbilt has an academic rigor that is stronger than Wisconsin.

Two, the big rumor as to what delayed Griffin's announcement was the consideration of distance between Seffner and Madison. Yeah, going to Nashville isn't exactly a day trip from suburban Tampa. That being said, the average flight is roughly half the distance to Nashville as it is to Madison. It might be enough of a comfort level for Griffin to go to a school that would more than likely fall from the on-field heights of the James Franklin era.

RB Jordan Stevenson
5'8, 185 lbs.
Dallas, Texas (South Oak Cliff)

I'm not going to tell you that this is likely a flip. But truth be told, the way this class has swung it's necessary to talk about the possibility that Jordan Stevenson could flip to Oklahoma State. I mean, after the Badgers ended up losing out on the South Oak Cliff corners by reasons both fadeaway and #reasons, you have to figure that the South Oak Cliff high school staff isn't exactly feeling grateful towards Wisconsin.

That being said, there's no trend toward Stevenson flipping right now. At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Badgers still look mostly likely to get themselves a four-star running back.

Regardless, Wisconsin has had themselves a week. There's still something left to lose, but still, the Badgers might get themselves something great.