B5Q Blogopean Union: Happy 5th of July!

Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winning national titles in football or basketball) and sometimes accept new members that they later regret (Estonia or Rutgers).

We hope that you will use this post to comment on things happening around the conference and also as a sort of daily open thread to discuss breaking news or argue about Spotted Cow.

• We hope y’all had a relaxing Independence Day with friends and family and food and drink. And we hope even more that you have today off and are at a cabin somewhere not even reading this.
• There wasn’t much news over the 4th, but 5-star basketball prospect Jalen Johnson made his college decision on Thursday afternoon. He had a final four of Duke, Kentucky, Arizona and Wisconsin. As had been predicted for a good while, Johnson chose Duke over hometown Wisconsin and the reactions have been...predictable.

People are calling for Greg Gard’s head on a platter because he didn’t get a player that he, tbqh, was never going to get. There is no need to get into the “WHY DON’T WISCONSIN KIDS END UP PLAYING FOR WISCONSIN BASKETBALL” debate again, we’ve all made our points now let’s just go back to hating Tom Izzo together.

• In encouraging recruiting news, a top-100 football player for the 2020 class released his top-7 and the Badgers made the cut!

Whitehead plays, and plays well, on both sides of the ball but the Badgers are recruiting him at tailback, while it seems some other schools are recruiting him as a linebacker. He is from Athens, Georgia which leads this amateur recruiting analyst to believe the Dawgs may have a leg up on the competition.

• I haven’t bought Madden in many years, but I always enjoy looking at the player ratings when they are released, especially for the rookies, to see who they think is going to have an instant impact in the NFL. This year, two of the top five rookies are from the B1G with Detroit Lions TE T.J. Hockenson a 77 overall and San Francisco 49ers DE Nick Bosa a 78 overall.

The Badgers that are in the game weren’t rated as highly but a few should see backup action in any dynasty you start. New York Giants MLB Ryan Connelly is a 65, Miami Dolphjns MLB Andrew Van Ginkel is a 64, fellow Dolphin LG Michael Dieter is a 64, Detroit Lions RG Beau Benzschawel is a 60 and Los Angeles Rams RT David Edwards is a 59. T.J. Edwards was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent, but he was not rated.

• Here is a recap of how Iowa is doing on the recruiting trail so far this cycle.
• A 3-star TE out of Virginia has verbally pledged to Penn State.
• The 2018 Michigan High School Football Player of the Year will be attending Ohio State.
• I don’t know what the Director’s Cup is, but Michigan finished second in it’s rankings. Wisconsin? A respectable 16th!
• If you can’t recruit ‘em regularly, get ‘em to transfer to you later. That’s the Lovie Smith motto.