2020 K/P Jack Van Dyke verbally commits to Wisconsin

When you beat the Iowa Hawkeyes for a kicker/punter on the recruiting trail it is, and I’m not joking here, a big win. Neenah, Wis. (Neenah) specialist Jack Van Dyke verbally accepted a preferred walk-on position with the Badgers on Monday night, which he announced via his Twitter account.

Obviously our former leader and special teams champion, Jake, was one of the first on the Badgers beat to retweet it, but I like to think we were only minutes behind him.

Van Dyke is rated as a five-star prospect by Kohl’s Kicking and is the 16th best punter and 19th best place kicker according to them. Jake, of BadgerBlitz and Rivals dot com, mentioned in his post on Van Dyke that the Badgers, and Hawkeyes, see Van Dyke as a punter more than a place kicker. According to Rivals, Van Dyke was also receiving interest from Minnesota, North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

At 6’5”, Van Dyke is a physically imposing specimen that should be able to get plenty of distance on his kicks as he refines his form. He is the third preferred walk-on to accept an offer for the 2020 class, joining offensive lineman Sean Timmis and long snapper Duncan McKinley. The Badgers have 11 scholarship players in the 2020 class but as you well know, walk-ons are just as important to the success of UW as any scholarship player.