Wisconsin football recruiting: UW adds in-state PWO ATH Zach Gloudeman

On Thursday night, 2022 LB/FB Zach Gloudeman (Spring Green) out of River Valley High School announced that he has accepted a preferred walk-on spot with the Wisconsin Badgers. Gloudeman had offers from Illinois State, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota State, St. Thomas and Yale that he turned down to stay home.

Standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 215 pounds Gloudeman was named first team all-SWC on both offense and defense his last three years in high school (and was named SWC Offensive Player of the Year his junior year). At the WFCA Combine, after his junior season, where he posted a 4.56 forty-yard dash, vertical: 36.2”, 23 reps of 185 on the bench press as well as a 4.47 pro agility he started to appear on teams’ radars.

Over the summer, after camping at UW, he earned the PWO offer from Chris Haering and Bob Bostad.

“I would say it was Wisconsin from the get-go. When they offered me I had it in the back of my mind that Wisconsin would be the place for me. I hung back on committing and there was no harm in playing out the options that I had. But I knew that’s where I was going to commit,” Gloudeman told Jon McNamara at Badger Blitz ($).

During his senior year, he recorded 63 tackles (12 tackles for loss), three sacks, one fumble recovery, one interception and one defensive touchdown. He finished his career with 168 tackles, 18 TFL, six sacks, one interception, one blocked kick and three fumble recoveries (with the one touchdown). Gloudeman was also a good running back, racking up 1,936 yards and 34 touchdowns over his career while also catching 32 passes for 455 yards and five scores.

It will be interesting to see where Gloudeman ends up in Madison as he seems like a versatile athlete that could fill in at a couple of spots.