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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 as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!
New football offers
- A handful of new offers went out to players last weekend who were in town for the Michigan game. The first one was to 2021 3-star DE Darryl Peterson (Akron, Ohio). Peterson attends school at Archbishop Hoban, the same place that produced current Badgers FB Quan Easterling.
Blessed beyond words and SO EXCITED to have received my first D1 offer from The University of Wisconsin!!!! #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/rq2sSgFXyN
— Darryl Peterson (@_DPETERSON10) September 20, 2019
Peterson also has an offer from Maryland and Penn State has shown interest in him as well.
- Another offer that went out over the weekend was to 3-star 2021 LB Kobe King (Detroit, Mich.) of Cass Tech. He is rated as the No. 472 player in the country by 247Sports and the No. 20 ILB.
EXTREMELY BLESSED TO RECEIVE AN OFFER FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ♦️#GoBadgers #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/pHEaNLcHHg
— KOBE•KING⚜️ (@KobekingCTFB) September 21, 2019
King also has offers from Indiana, Iowa State, Boston College, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, Penn State, Nebraska, Purdue and others.
- The Badgers also offered top in-state OT Joe Brunner. Brunner, of Whitefish Bay High School, is a 2022 recruit who is rated at 4-stars by 247Sports and listed as their No. 1 OT in the class.
Blessed and honored to to have recieved an offer from The University of Wisconsin, thank you @CoachJoeRudolph @CoachHaering ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/kexISC9DmD
— Joe Brunner (@brunnerjoe_) September 21, 2019
The 6-foot-5 sophomore is considered a heavy Badgers lean, duh, but also has offers from Iowa and Northern Illinois.
- One of the more intriguing offers to come out of the weekend was to multi-sport athlete Matthias Algarin. Algarin is unrated as a football player, but the track star from Pierz, Minn. received a track scholarship offer (I’m assuming, because neither Rivals nor 247 lists him as having a football offer from the Badgers) after leaving Madison.
Amazing Official Visit in Madison. Grateful to receive a scholarship offer from The University of Wisconsin. Big win @BadgerFootball over Michigan. Thanks Coach Jackson and @CoachKhalif for the opportunity to compete in both Track and Football at the next level. #OnWisconsin ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/NL2VSQbqx9
— Matthias Algarin (@TripleJumpThias) September 24, 2019
Algarin wants to play both sports in college and the St. Cloud Times notes why that will be possible:
Why all the collegiate fuss over Algarin? Algarin has a 42-inch vertical jump. Toss in his track times and he’s drawing attention from colleges like no athlete ever has from Pierz.
The junior jumper and sprinter became the first Pierz athlete to win four section titles in one season, winding up all-state in all four: triple jump (first), long jump (second), 100 (fifth) and 200 (ninth).
At right around 6-feet tall, Algarin could be a potential demon on jet-sweeps and wide receiver screens. He has an offer from Nebraska as well, where his sister competes on the track team.
- 2021 4-star ATH Sam Jackson (Naperville, Ill.) received an offer from the Badgers on Wednesday afternoon. Jackson is currently committed to Minnesota, the third part of a strong three man class the Gophers have put together so far.
So Thankful to receive an offer from the University of Wisconsin !!!!! #badgers @UWcoachnokes @247Sports @AllenTrieu @EDGYTIM @ThrowItDeep pic.twitter.com/azlNTJPSHa
— ———18——— (@jackson5ive_) September 25, 2019
The 5-foot-10 Jackson plays QB for Naperville Central, and has run a 4.65 40-yard dash at The Opening on May 19th, but I do not know where the Badgers envision him playing since they already have taken a QB in the 2021 class.
- Wisconsin WR commit Isaac Smith got an offer from a bird with teeth. BIRDS DON’T HAVE TEETH!
Thankful to receive an offer from Louisville! pic.twitter.com/4oCgxLChLE
— Isaac Smith❗️ (@Isaacsmith_1) September 22, 2019
Football visits
- As shocking as this may be, some recruits leave Madison and then have the gall to go and check out other campuses! HOW DARE YOU?!?! Anyways, top 2020 4-star LB prospect Kaden Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn.) is going to Lincoln for GameDay this weekend.
Lincoln what’s good? Nebraska official this weekend ❤️ pic.twitter.com/HMTTHqhPAo
— Kaden Johnson (@KadenJohnson9) September 23, 2019
His recruitment still seems like a two-horse race between the Badgers and the Gophers but if Nebraska upsets Ohio Sta...hahahahahaha, sorry. I couldn’t finish that sentence.
- Wisconsin commit Aaron Witt, who has decomitted from Iowa and Minnesota, was potentially giving 4-star DE T.J. Bollers (Tiffin, Iowa) some advice on just skipping those other schools and staying in Madison.
#Badgers OLB commit Aaron Witt (right) with top OLB/DE target in 2021 T.J. Bollers (left). pic.twitter.com/gK9Rt5nPMz
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) September 22, 2019
- I’m still finding the occasional tweet from kids who visited for the Michigan game and here is one from OLB Chances Carter-Hill (Akron, Ohio). Carter-Hill is an unranked player from Archbishop Hoban, like Darryl Peterson and Quan Easterling who were mentioned earlier in this article...were you paying attention?
Had an AMAZING time this pass weekend at Camp Randall ‼️‼️ the energy was OUTSTANDING thank to @CoachKhalif @CoachGebhardt @CoachAprilUW for the invite #OnWisconsin ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/TzBTmfwp9D
— Chances Carter Hill - Class 2021 (@chancman123) September 24, 2019
Basketball visits
- Another big weekend for the basketball team and as many as three top 2021 recruits could be on campus for official visits. First, 247 Composite 4-star PG Chucky Hepburn (Bellevue, Neb.) will be at Camp Randall to take in the Northwestern game.
Madison this weekend #notcommitted pic.twitter.com/92XSG1mYol
— Chucky Hepburn (@ChuckyHepburn) September 24, 2019
Hepburn has offers from Minnesota, Nebraska and Creighton, while Iowa, Oklahoma State, Purdue and Oregon are interested in him. The No. 23 ranked floor general in the country has someone else in that picture on Twitter, though...
- Which brings us to our next official visitor! 4-star PF Matthew Mors (Yankton, S.D.) will also be in town this weekend.
Matthew Mors (6’7, 2021) of Yankton, South Dakota will officially visit Wisconsin: Sept 27-29 pic.twitter.com/pTmusddjf7
— Wisconsin Hoopz (@hoopz_wisconsin) August 27, 2019
Mors, who is good friends with Hepburn hence the picture of them together, has been one of the Badgers top 2021 targets for some time. Fellow South Dakotan, assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, has been recruiting Mors tirelessly for years. He is rated as the No. 115 player in the country by the 247 Composite and has been considered a Badgers lock for a while.
With a good visit this weekend you’d have to think he’ll pull the trigger and commit to Greg Gard and Co.
- 4-star C Logan Duncomb (Cincinnati, Ohio) is scheduled to be in Madison for a short time this weekend as his timeline on his 247 player page lists him as being in Madison on Friday and on an unofficial visit to Indiana on Saturday.
Blessed to receive an offer from @BadgerMBB! Thanks to Coach Gard for the amazing opportunity! #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/pzn8zkrtyC
— Logan Duncomb (@LoganDuncomb) June 23, 2019
The 6-foot-9 center is being heavily recruited by both the Badgers and Hoosiers with Iowa and Ohio State also high on his list.
Recruits missed out on
- Yikes. Always double-check your spelling, friends.
Wouldn’t be a Michigan vs Wisconsin game without my annual shout out to the 1993 Wisconsin recruiting coordinator. I was So close to going to Wisky until this. Minor details. Go Blue. pic.twitter.com/9UDWIInD6f
— Clint Copenhaver (@copietime43) September 21, 2019