Wisconsin recruiting: football offers, basketball commit highlights and more

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!

Last week was a bit slow since the football team had a conference title game to prepare for and the coaches couldn’t be out on the road recruiting like some other, worse programs, but now that the game is over there was a flurry of activity.

Football offers

• 4-star 2022 DL (Rivals has him listed as a DE and 247 has him at DT) Travis Shaw (Greensboro, N.C.) was offered by the Badgers on Monday. He is listed at 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds which is just...this is a high school sophomore we are talking about! Physically, he could step in and play in the B1G yesterday!!

Shaw has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Oregon and a host of other Power 5 schools so this isn’t the case of Wisconsin finding a diamond in the rough.

Shaw looks like a pretty legit prospect already. He can collapse the pocket, he pursues down the line of scrimmage to make tackles and he looks quicker than someone his size should be.

I don’t know what Wisconsin’s chances of getting Shaw to Madison are but it is always nice to see the Badgers in on players of this caliber.

• Continuing their tour of North Carolina, the Badgers also offered 4-star ATH Kaemen Marley (Ramseur, N.C.) on Monday. Marley plays RB and QB according to his Hudl profile, but his pinned highlight video shows him playing WR and DB. I guess that’s why he’s listed as an ATH?

Marley is 6-foot-2 and weighs 206 pounds and is rated as the No. 115 player in the class by the 247 Composite. He has other offers from Florida, N.C. State, UNC, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Penn State and others.

Marley can jump and catch the ball at its high point and also is not afraid of contact (there are multiple clips of him laying the lumber on dudes). He looks like an ideal red zone target who also would like to get down the field and block somebody.

Current football commits highlights

• 2020 3-star LB Malik Reed (Chandler, Ariz.) finished up his senior year as a dang state champion!

You love to see it.

• 2020 3-star ATH Preston Zachman (Catawissa, Pa.) is being recruited to Wisconsin as an OLB, but his QB highlights from high school are pretty fun to watch. About one minute in he turns into a lead blocker for one of his receivers. I love when that happens.

• 2020 3-star WR Chimere Dike (Waukesha) had an excellent senior season.

• 2021 3-star QB Deacon Hill (Santa Barbara, Calif.) took his team all the way to the state finals and looks like he’s only getting better.

Thanks for the invite, Deacon.

In home visits

• 2020 3-star WR Isaac Smith (Collierville, Tenn.) hosted Ted Gilmore on Sunday. This is the part of recruiting that the Badgers were missing out on because of the B1G Title game, FYI.

Current basketball commit highlights

• 2021 4-star PF Chris Hodges (Schaumburg, Ill.) was in action on Friday night and Evan Flood stopped by on his way to Indy to cover the B1G Title game.

Flood noted that Hodges was being swarmed by defenders all night and struggled to get going offensively.

• 2020 4-star PF Ben Carlson (Saint Paul, Minn.) had a really nice weekend on the court. First of all, this highlight is against the high school my kids will be going to in a decade! HOW DARE YOU, CARLSON! Secondly, nice vision to pass out of the double team and find the open teammate cutting to the hoop!

These are the highlights that really will get you excited for Carlson to come to Madison. Against the No. 1 team in his division, Carlson set a single game school record for points with 40!

The 2020 class is coming different to Madison. I can’t wait for them to get on campus.

• 2020 3-star twin brothers Jordan Davis and Johnny Davis (La Crosse) helped pound Menomonie into dust. It is nice to see both of the Davis brothers healthy again.

Other recruiting miscellany

• 2020 RB Joey Giogri (Grafton) had a preferred walk-on offer from the Badgers.

• 2022 4-star OT Joe Brunner (Milwaukee) is going to be a hot commodity on the recruiting trail.

• 2021 3-star DE Darryl Peterson (Akron, Ohio) is one of the top-rated players on the Badgers board for next year’s class.

• 2020 4-star OT Jack Nelson (Stoughton) finally got his fourth star on his profile page!

• Look at Evan Flood! He’s famous!