Wisconsin football recruiting: UW offers a pair of 2022 prospects

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 (sometimes more) 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!

New offers

• 2022 3-star ATH Jaren Kanak (Hays, Kan.) out of Hays High School announced on Friday morning that he had received a scholarship offer from the Wisconsin Badgers. Kanak has nearly 20 offers with Nebraska and Kansas State being listed as “warm” on his 247 Sports profile and, along with the two aforementioned schools, has official visits scheduled to Iowa and Kansas according to his 247 profile page.

Kanak stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 210 pounds and while he is listed as an ATH, it appears that most schools are recruiting him as a wide receiver although Iowa is recruiting him as a linebacker ($).

Kanak, who also runs track, is a fast wideout. He also closes on the ball carrier quickly as a linebacker. He is a willing blocker, a tough runner with the ball in his hands and is able to high point the ball well. It’s hard to say if the Badgers got in too late on Kanak, who appears to have a list of favorites already picked out, but he is a good enough player that you have to at least throw your hat in the ring.

• 2022 3-star WR Aidan Gousby (Lehigh Acres, Fla.) out of Lehigh Senior High School received an offer from the Badgers on Friday, according to his Twitter account. If you are an avid follower of recruiting you may recognize Gousby’s high school as the same one that produced freshman ILB Jake Chaney, whose father is the head coach of the team.

Gousby has nearly 20 scholarship offers with Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Nebraska and Penn State among the larger schools.

Standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 185 pounds, Gousby has excellent size for a wide receiver. According to the 247 Composite, Gousby is rated as the No. 952 player and No. 127 wideout in the country. He is also listed as the No. 128 player in the state of Florida.

As a noted slow person I don’t know how qualified I am to comment on someone else’s speed, but Gousby isn’t what I’d call a burner. He is definitely fast enough, but probably won’t be running past Big Ten defenders regularly. He runs track for his school too, so perhaps he’ll be faster by the time he gets to college. Gousby IS quick, agile and shows excellent vision running through traffic.

He also appears to have good ball skills and has the frame to shield defenders away from passes in close quarters. Last season he totaled 194 yards of offense (151 receiving) and two touchdowns in seven games according to MaxPreps.

Gousby doesn’t have any favorite schools listed yet, but one would assume that the fact that his coach’s son plays at Wisconsin will at least allow the Badgers to get right into the thick of this race.