Wisconsin football recruiting: a few updates before Early Signing Day

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 Early Signing Period for Division 1 football begins on December 18th. We are expecting just about everyone to sign then for the Badgers. We are currently reaching out to players to confirm with them and we will have a BUNCH of coverage for you next week as players start signing their national letters of intent.

In-home visits

• 2020 3-star ATH Preston Zachman (Catawissa, Pa.) of Souther Columbia Area High School got a visit from coaches Chryst, Turner and Rudolph.

• 2020 3-star CB Max Lofy (Colorado Springs, Colo.) of Pine Creek High School had super smiley Jim Leonhard and coach Bobby April out to visit.

• 2020 3-star OL Dylan Barrett (Saint Charles, Ill.) of St. Charles East High School saw coaches Chryst, Rudolph and Breckterfield down to Baja Wisconsin for an in-home visit.

• 2020 3-star DE James Thompson Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio) of Roger Bacon High School had defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard and defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield down to visit.

• 2020 4-star RB Jalen Berger (Ramsey, N.J.) of Don Bosco Prep had the whole dang squad visit his house as the Badgers try and put the full-court press on the uncommitted tailback from the Garden State. Since Greg Schiano took the Rutgers job a lot of people think Berger will end up there. Wherever he ends up, Chryst and co. did all they could to land the blue chipper.

Updated rankings for Badgers targets

• 2020 3-star QB Dan Villari (Massapequa, NY) of Plainedge High School was given a rating by 247 Sports this week. Villari decommitted from Fordham at the end of November as he’s started to receive some interest from larger FBS schools. Right now, his best offer is from Buffalo (he also has one from UMass), but Michigan and Wisconsin are both sniffing around and if an offer comes from either one that could be tough to beat.

Official visits

• 2020 3-star WR Devin Chandler (Cornelius, N.C.) of William Amos Hough School was in Madison Tuesday through Thursday of this week to check out the campus and facilities and Babcock ice cream or whatever the players do on these visits.

According to 247 he had an “awesome” time, so that’s gotta be good, right? Maryland and Virginia are the other two finalists for Chandler’s services with the smart money being on UVa signing him. He visits Charlottesville this weekend and that may seal the deal for him.