Wisconsin football recruiting: new offers abound for UW

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

• 2023 4-star ATH Jacobe Johnson (Mustang, Okla.) out of Mustang High School received an offer from UW this past week for football (I am noting this because he also has Power 6 offers in basketball). Johnson has offers from Oklahoma (the favorite according to 247 Sports) and Oklahoma State (the favorite according to On3) but also holds offers from Baylor, Iowa State, Michigan, Nebraska, Stanford, Tennessee and others.

Johnson stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs around 180 pounds. He is rated as the No. 96 prospect in the country and the No. 5 ATH by the On3 Consensus. They also list him as the No. 2 player in the state of Oklahoma. The 247 Composite ranking has him as the No. 118 player in the country and No. 11 ATH.

As far as I can tell, Johnson is being recruited primarily as a defensive back but he also has experience at wide receiver. The Badgers have been interested in bigger corners so the 6-foot-3 Johnson certainly fits the bill of what corernback’s coach Hank Poteat is looking for.

Johnson shows a willingness to tackle and set the edge on outside running plays that you don’t often see from cornerbacks. He is stout against the run and also shows good speed in running down ball carriers that get past the second level of the defense. In coverage, he uses his height well to knock away passes. I would imagine there is some technique stuff that he could work on before he plays at the Big Ten or Big 12 level, but all of the pieces for a high end starter are there.

• Unranked 2023 S Jayden Bonsu (Hillside, N.J.) out of St. Peter’s Prep received an offer from Wisconsin a few days ago and has been really blowing up lately. In the first three weeks of 2022 alone, he has earned offers from the Badgers, Michigan, Miami (Fla.) and Southern Cal. He also holds offers from Clemson, Kentucky, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee and others.

Our resident St. Peter’s Prep corespondent, J.J. Post (class of 2019), tell us “he came out of nowhere this year!”

Bonsu stands around 6-foot-2 and weighs close to 200 pounds but is unranked by all of the major recruiting services currently, which kinda proves J.J.’s point. While watching his highlight tape I noted that he also plays some slot corner for St. Peter’s which is nice if he has both skillsets. He also hits like a truck that is mad that the ball carrier said something about his mother. He would be an excellent fit as an in-the-box safety that helps in run support but can also drop back into coverage.

His recruitment really appears to be taking off, so it’s good Wisconsin got in now. Jim Leonhard’s defense is surely appealing to recruits and a versatile player like Bonsu could fill multiple roles.

• 2023 4-star CB Ethan Nation (Roswell, Ga.) out of Roswell High School is also on the Badgers big board now after receiving an offer from Hank Poteat. Nation has nearly 50 (!!!) offers including from Alabama (being recruited by Jay Valai), Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State...you know what, you get it. Although, one school that you may not have expected to be on the list is there: UW-La Crosse (I could not confirm this via Nation’s Twitter account, but it’s hilarious if they did actually offer him).

Nation is 5-foot-10 and weighs around 160 pounds. He is ranked as the No. 217 player and No. 25 CB in the nation by the On3 Consensus and the No. 173 player and No. 21 CB by the 247 Composite. While 247 doesn’t have any predictions put in for Nation, On3 notes that Tennessee and Notre Dame are the two current front-runners.

Last season, Nation had 35 tackles, six passes broken up, a forced fumble and eight interceptions. Most of his highlights are from his play as a wideout, but he shows soft hands and good awareness of where the ball is.

• Unranked 2025 (!!!) ATH/WR Isaiah Mozee (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) out of Lee’s Summit North High School picked up an offer from the Badgers on Monday. Mozee already has other offers from Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota and Mizzou. I’m sorry, can we go back to how this player is graduating in 2025?!?! That cannot be a real year, I don’t believe it.

Mozee stands right around 6-foot-0 and weighs 160ish pounds. His 247 Sports and On3 profiles list him as a WR and his Rivals profile lists him as an ATH, but it seems like most programs, including Wisconsin, will be recruiting him on the offensive side of the ball. On3 notes that Mizzou and Iowa seem to be the two programs that have jumped out to Mozee early on in the process.

What really jumps out about Mozee is how elusive he is. He rarely gets tackled by the first defender and often gets extra yards on plays that look like they should be short gains. I’d imagine once he gets a little bigger he’ll just put his head down and get the extra yards, because I can also see all of that dancing with the ball resulting in no gain/a loss of yards. He is used as a rushing QB too and even throws the ball for a touchdown on a trick play. He definitely is someone to keep an eye on, as I think he is the first 2025 offer the Badgers have given out, but a lot can change in the next three (lmao) years of his recruitment.