Wisconsin football recruiting: coaches out on the trail and transfer updates

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!

Coaches on the trail

• The Wisconsin Badgers football coaching staff has been out on the recruiting trail a bunch since the season ended. They’ve been all over Wisconsin, in Minnesota, in New Jersey, in Texas, in Louisiana...so yeah, the coaching staff is blanketing the country. It is interesting to see what other schools are trying to make inroads in the state. Syracuse has been making an effort to get into Wisconsin recently, Illinois has redoubled their efforts in the state since Bret Bielema took over there and you could say the same about Kansas since Lance Leipold took that job. It looks like Notre Dame will also be a fixture in the state moving forward, which will only make things more difficult for UW.

Lakeville, Minnesota has been a fertile recruiting ground for the football team and the men’s basketball team recently. You see some similar teams here as well with Nebraska and Iowa State in the mix.

Historically, Wisconsin has had luck recruiting players out of New Jersey and cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat was in South Jersey recently at Pennsauken High School.

Thomas Paasch is a large offensive lineman in Green Bay that has been on UW’s radar for a while. They haven’t answered yet, but it’s always smart to check in on these kids in-state since it’s such a quick trip.

Jerry Kaminski is a 2023 QB out of Sun Prairie who the Badgers have been taking a look at. He doesn’t have any reported offers yet but, again, the local kids are easy to check in on and they surely appreciate it.

DJ Lagway is an intriguing player. He is a 2024 QB out of Willis, Texas and already has offers from Baylor, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and others. Some heavy hitters are already involved, but if he is looking to leave the area it’s good for Wisconsin to throw their hat in the ring eventually.

For the one millionth time, Bobby April went down to Louisiana to visit 4-star LB Tackett Curtis. This time he brought defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard with him. Wisconsin is recruiting this kid hard than just about anyone I can remember and it would be a really impressive job by April if Curtis picks the Badgers.

2023 5-star RB Richard Young has been a player the Badgers have been on since they were recruiting his teammate, and current Wisconsin ILB, Jake Chaney two years ago. He unfortunately seems to have played himself out of the “committing to Wisconsin” level of running back, but it’s certainly interesting to see him wearing a Badgers shirt at practice. Maybe Chaney, and his dad who is the coach at Lehigh, can work some magic???

Transfer updates

• New transfer cornerback Cedrick Dort wrote a lengthy post about leaving UK and heading to Wisconsin. He seems acutely aware of his emotions and how his actions affect others and I think he could be a valuable addition to the locker room just as much as on the field.

UCLA transfer CB Jay Shaw is also in Madison ahead of the new semester. The weather is...considerably different in Wisconsin than southern California.

I’ll have another recruiting post this week, possibly later Tuesday if I get to it, breaking down the flurry of offers that have gone out recently from the football team.