St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., should be a familiar name for Wisconsin Badgers fans. Former UW standouts like running back James White, safety Dezmen Southward, and linebacker Conor O’Neill all hailed from the Florida powerhouse years ago and wore the cardinal and white here in Madison on some impressive teams.
Recently, Wisconsin cornerback Dontye Carriere-Williams played for the Raiders and will be a key piece to Jim Leonhard’s defense in a starting capacity in 2018.
Wisconsin appears to be targeting another South Florida defensive back who plays at St. Thomas Aquinas, as Fort Lauderdale’s Semar Melvin tweeted on Wednesday that the Badgers offered him.
Melvin is a three-star recruit according to 247Sports and Rivals. Listed at 6’0, 160 pounds on his Hudl profile, his film shows a pass break-up machine who appears unafraid of getting physical in coverage and against the run. The first highlight is actually a stop he made on special teams, which is always helpful for finding time on the field as a young player.
Melvin also received an offer from Oklahoma on Wednesday. According to 247Sports, Kentucky, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Mississippi State, Louisville, and N.C. State have also offered the cornerback in addition to UW and OU.
There is another Wisconsin connection here, as former cornerback Devin Gaulden is currently a defensive backs coach at St. Thomas Aquinas, according to his Twitter account (h/t Badger247’s Evan Flood).
Read more from BadgerBlitz.com’s Jon McNamara on the Wisconsin offer, which according to Melvin “was like a dream come true.” ($)
It also appears the Badgers’ coaching staff is looking at the state of Georgia for a quarterback in the 2020 class.
Marietta, Ga., prospect Harrison Bailey tweeted on Tuesday that he received an offer from Wisconsin.
Just received an offer from Wisconsin! #Badgers pic.twitter.com/pC8BiLcIiq
— Harrison Bailey (@HBailey_05) January 24, 2018
Bailey is unranked by ESPN and Rivals but is a four-star recruit according to 247Sports’ standalone rankings for the 2020 class (No. 49 player in the country and No. 2 pro-style quarterback).
Bailey’s Hudl profile lists him at 6’5, 220 pounds, and 247Sports notes the young signal caller has received offers from the likes of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State, and LSU, among many other notable programs.
His sophomore highlight film is impressive, especially for a young quarterback. He has the arm in both strength and accuracy against fellow high school competition.
We will see how Wisconsin and quarterbacks coach Jon Budmayr attempt to work themselves into the mix against some of college football’s best teams. Not that it means anything, but Bailey’s Twitter profile is interesting—his cover photo is Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Wisconsin just offered 2020 quarterback and fellow Georgia native Max Johnson earlier this week.