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Wisconsin football recruiting: Updates on Noah Burks, Ethan Tucky, new offers

The Badgers moved on some tight ends and offered several safeties to fill a potential hole.

By Andrew Rosin

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Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

I'm not going to try and go True Detective on you with what happened this week. Orlando, Fla. (Oak Ridge) safety Cycoby Burch is no longer a take for Wisconsin.

We're moving on, making more offers for the future, and finally offering a prospect that I was in favor of offering a year ago. Sure, Burch is an elsewhere prospect, but you don't have to be as crazy as a man who believes the earth is hollow to see the good days ahead.

Updates

CB Henry Miller: When you're looking at someone who's listed at 6'3 to play cornerback, there's always an interest in the whys and wherefores. And on Friday, the three-star athlete from Kissimmee, Fla, (Gateway) took to Twitter and announced a top ten.

It doesn't take any sort of hard-boiled detective to see that the Badgers are in the race, but not neck-in-neck with Michigan State. With that said, the Spartans did get a commitment from Columbus, Ohio's Austin Andrews. The Badgers still have the playing time pitch to work with here, and if you're one of those people who believes in social media platforms as windows to the soul, there's definitely a reason to think five could be one of the lower slots in Miller's no particular order.

OLB Noah Burks: Burks did an interview with Evan Flood for Badger247 Radio, and from the sounds of it the Badgers are really close to getting a commitment from the 247 Sports four-star prospect. Outside linebackers coach Tim Tibesar made it a point to visit Carmel, Ind. to see Burks and it generally seems that unless Maryland can pull out a near-perfect visit in two weeks, the Badgers look like they're going to get themselves a real good linebacker.

Badgers Make Moves For Tight Ends

One of the positions the Badgers really didn't have any prospects they were in contention for was tight end. That changed this week as they made offers to three-star Brooklyn, N.Y. (Poly Prep) prospect Ray Marten and Rivals and Scout three-star Salisbury, Conn. (Salisbury School) prospect Jake Hescock. Marten, who lives in the 26th state the Badgers have offered this year -- tying their mark for last season, is a 6'3, 230 pound prospect who counts Boston College, Miami, Rutgers and Pittsburgh among his best offers. Hescock is 6'7, 235 pounds and has offers from UConn, Old Dominion, Pitt, and Temple.

New Safety Options

If you were paying attention to the offer sheets, you could have seen the odds that the Badgers weren't going to take Burch begin to grow exponentially. The Badgers ended up making three offers for safety during the week -- and don't be surprised if a couple of these prospects could become dividend payers in February.

James Pierre is a 5'11, 160-pound three-star center-fielder type from Deerfield Beach, Fla. that will likely need a year in the weight room to step up to the college competition. His other best offers include Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Seth Currens is a 6'2 192-pound three-star prospect from Pickerington, Ohio (Pickerington Central) that has good size, hands, and instincts and an offer sheet of Bowling Green, Illinois, and Toledo. Word is, he's already planning an unofficial visit ($).

Jordan Mack is a 6'2, 182-pound three-star recruit from Norcross, Ga. (Wesleyan School), who has the athleticism to play corner at the high school level and a noted offer sheet of three of the most top notch academic schools in the southeast.

New Name To Know

WR Demari Simpkins: The three-star prospect and recent offer from Hollywood, Fla. (Hallandale) was already interesting based on the fact that he has a listed forty-yard dash time of 4.42. He's a prospect that's played it close to the vest, you look at his interest list, and you see that it's Central Florida up top and they haven't offered yet. With that said, if you're looking at best offer -- the Badgers win there. If you're looking for a prospect who has a definite interest in Wisconsin, well, Simpkins did retweet an Evan Flood tweet about a post about possible Badgers commits ($) for 2016.

In a nutshell, Simpkins has the straight line burst and athleticism to be the sort of vertical threat to stretch a defense out for whoever becomes the quarterback of the future. He's not going to be the highest pedigree prospect the Badgers could get a commit for at the position, but he looks like he could be real valuable.

New Offers of Note

LB Ethan Tucky: I was on the Ethan Tucky train early. Like, expecting former Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen to make an offer to him after last season's camp early. Now, jokes about former coaches and knowing when they were just the worst aside? It's a situation where making an offer Friday puts the Badgers in a real good spot here with the 247 Sports composite high three-star prospect.

The Delaware, Ohio (Rutherford B. Hayes) native is in that sort of position where after Tuf Borland committed, there really doesn't look like much room at the linebacker in Columbus -- but for the Badgers...

...that means a linebacker with track-star speed and the motor and instincts that would get the right way sportswriters hearts all a flutter has a real chance to fall into the Badgers lap. I mean, it's a situation where the Badgers could already be running neck and neck with Kentucky, along with competing against the likes of Boston College, Buffalo and Indiana. Even if Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (Los Osos) linebacker Bryce Youngquist is a bridge too far, Burks and Tucky might very well be one of the nastier future outside linebacker duos in the Big Ten.

DE Isaiahh Loudermilk: You look at the Hudl profile for this three star prospect from Howard, Kan. (Howard West Elk) and you notice a couple of interesting things. One, the league Loudermilk plays in is of the eight-man variety, and two? The 6'6, 250-pound prospect just ran up, swallowed up a screen pass and took it to the house on the first highlight. The second highlight was the opposite side defensive end giving chase and bringing down a ball carrier from behind. In a town that was south of 700 people at its last census, there's a prospect with that sort of athleticism.

As for offers, he has offers from Arizona State, Kansas State, and Missouri counting among his best but they aren't putative barriers to contention. He's smart enough to get an offer from Vanderbilt, has the frame to get to 290 pounds easily, and seriously, click the Hudl profile. Loudermilk's got that tremendous upside potential.

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