Wisconsin recruiting: a bunch of visitors from the Purdue game

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!

Visitors from the Purdue game

• 2021 3-star RB Antwan Roberts (Hendersonville, Tenn.) took in the Badgers victory over the Boilermakers and snapped a pic with Jonathan Taylor. Roberts also has offers from Vanderbilt, Duke, Louisville, Kentucky, Mizzou and Memphis. The Badgers already have two RBs in the 2021 class, but Roberts still appears to be a priority for UW.

• 3-star 2021 LB Dwayne Johnson (Snellville, Ga.) seemed to really enjoy his time in Madison over the weekend. What a positive tweet he sent! Anyways, if he isn’t nicknamed “The Rock” then I don’t even know what to do with myself anymore. Johnson only has one offer currently, from Kansas State, but has received interest from all of the schools in Georgia.

• 5-star 2021 OT Nolan Rucci (Lititz, Pa.) was back in Madison to check out the Badgers and see his brother, current UW TE Hayden Rucci. The Badgers are still involved with the No. 20 player in the 2021 class, but most people in the know have Penn State as the team to beat.

• 2021 unranked LB Jake Chaney (Lehigh Acres, Fla.) was in town for the Purdue game. According to Rivals, Chaney has received interest from UAB, FIU, Georgia Tech and Princeton.

• Another unranked 2021 LB prospect, Ahmad Walker (Warner Robins, Ga.), caught the action on Saturday. He has scholarship offers from Akron and Charlotte and is receiving interest from Georgia Tech, South Carolina and Troy.

• Unranked 2020 PRO-QB prospect Josh Beetham (Yorkville, Ill.) was in Madison for the game against Purdue. Beetham doesn’t have any scholarships yet, but according to Rivals he has interest from the Badgers, Minnesota, Michigan State, Northwestern, Arizona State, Illinois, Iowa State and a number of others so one would imagine that the offers will be forthcoming.

• Unranked 2021 OL Joe Timmis (Milwaukee) of Marquette University High School made a return visit to Madison. The Badgers haven’t offered yet, but Iowa and Iowa State (who also have expressed interest) haven’t either.

New offers

• Paul Chryst and co. extended an offer to 247 Composite (3-star on 247 and 2-star on Rivals) 3-star 2020 WR Devin Chandler (Cornelius, N.C.) out of William Amos Hough High School. Chandler also holds offers from Duke, UVa, Akron, Illinois, Maryland, N.C. State and Kent State.

Chandler is acquaintances with fellow Tennessean southeastern American and 2020 Wisconsin WR commit Isaac Smith but reports say this offer was kind of out of the blue. Chandler, who is around 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, caught 50 passes for 905 yards and 14 touchdowns in his senior season.

He shows an ability to run right past defenders and go up and catch the ball above shorter cornerbacks. The Badgers can always use more fast, talented players on the outside and Chandler looks like he fits the bill.

• 2022 4-star (247 Sports) S Braelon Allen (Fond du Lac) from Fond du Lac High School finally got his offer from Wisconsin that, well, just about everyone knew was coming eventually. Allen tweeted about the offer right before the Purdue game kicked off and this is now his second offer to go along with Iowa.

Notre Dame has shown a lot of interest in Allen as well and, according to Rivals, so has Florida State, Minnesota, Iowa State, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and West Virginia.

Allen is an excellent athlete, as can be gleaned by taking a look at what positions he plays for Fond du Lac: QB, WR, RB, LB, S, CB and KR. I’m exhausted just typing out all of those positions.

Allen has a great nose for the ball and isn’t afraid to stick that nose right into a ball carriers chest. He also looks like he’ll be a good center fielder with the ability to make plays on balls that go over the top.

The No. 6 safety and No. 76 player in the class of 2022 would be a huge get for the Badgers and hopefully he’ll take a long look at his home-state team.

Commit playoff updates

• 2021 3-star QB commit Deacon Hill (Santa Barbara, Calif.) is leading the Dons to the state finals! He’s doing so while putting up some impressive numbers as well.