Wisconsin football recruiting: WFCA 2019 All-Region teams

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college athletics team, but following it closely as a fan can sometimes be difficult and can often be time consuming. We’ll try and condense all the recruiting news you can use into this bi-weekly post. It’ll include updates on current commits, including stats from their high school games, as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!

The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association announced their All-Region teams this past Monday. First introduced last year, regions were reorganized into four Large School regions and four Small School regions, according to Travis Wilson of Wissports.net.

The only current Wisconsin Badgers commit form in-state who didn’t make the list was 2021 RB Loyal Crawford, who only missed out because he was injured for a good portion of the season.

You can find the full list here but we’ve compiled all of the Badgers recruits below for ease of viewing.

• OL Ben Barten, Stratford, SR, 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, 2 Small
• OL JP Benzschawel, Grafton, JR, 6-foot-6, 270 pounds, 2 Large
• OL Tanor Bortolini, Kewaunee, SR, 6-foot-6, 275 pounds, 2 Small
• OL Jack Nelson, Stoughton, SR, 6-foot-7, 285 pounds, 4 Large
• OL Trey Wedig, Kettle Moraine, SR, 6-foot-8, 320 pounds, 3 Large
• RB Jackson Acker, Verona, JR, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, 4 Large
• WR Chimere Dike, Waukesha North, SR, 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, 3 Large
• OLB Cole Dakovich, Catholic Memorial, SR, 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, 3 Large
• DE Cade McDonald, Hudson, SR, 6-foot-7, 250, 1 Large

The WFCA will announce all-state teams on Monday, November 18th and one would have to imagine that a number of these players will also be on those teams.

Football offers

• The Badgers made a PWO offer earlier this week. Unranked 2020 RB Joey Giorgi (Grafton) of Grafton High School is the latest in-state player to get a PWO offer from the Badgers.

Giorgi has interest from Minnesota (the Gophers have also offered him as a PWO) and Northern Illinois while receiving a full scholarship offer from Bemidji State. Giorgi runs behind a future Badger offensive lineman already, so you’d think he’d feel right at home in Madison.

Giorgi leads the state in rushing this season with 2,338 yards on 288 carries (8.1 yards per carry) and is tied for fifth with 29 touchdowns. He added 34 catches for 442 yards and five scores.

He shows a nice burst through the hole and patience to follow his blockers. He could be another in the long line of Wisconsin walk-ons who find success in Madison.