Wisconsin football recruiting: 3-star RB Jaquez Keyes is UW’s fourth 2023 commitment

Well, well, well, it looks like the Wisconsin Badgers are on a little bit of a hot streak on the ‘ol recruiting trail! A mere 53 minutes after 3-star ATH Justin Taylor tweeted that he was committing to Wisconsin, 3-star RB Jaquez Keyes (Ironton, Ohio) did the same exact thing. Keyes is now the fourth member of UW’s 2023 class, joining Taylor, 3-star OL James Durand and 3-star LB Tyler Jansey.

“I’m excited to get to work and continue the great tradition of running backs at UW,” Keyes said in his commitment post so, you know, he gets it. Coming out of Ironton High School, Keyes is rated as a 3-star prospect by both 247 Sports and the 247 Composite while Rivals has him as a 4-star.

247 Composite: No. 412 nationally; No. 28 RB; No. 10 Ohio
247 Sports: No. 37 RB; No. 25 Ohio
Rivals: 5.8 rating

Keyes had other offers from Army, Coastal Carolina, Iowa, Memphis, Pitt, West Virginia and a bunch of MAC schools. While Keyes received his offer from UW about a month ago, it was always thought that Wisconsin was going to be a serious contender for his commitment. The day after he tweeted about the offer, in fact, 247’s Evan Flood put in a Crystal Ball prediction for the Badgers.

Standing at 6-foot-1 and weighing just under 210 pounds, Keyes is a solidly built tailback. He ran for 1,074 yards and 11 touchdowns on 94 carries as a junior and was named to the all-state team.

His rushing style really appeals to the lizard part of my brain that wants every Wisconsin running back to run through the facemask of multiple defenders on each play. The Badgers will most likely take another running back in this class and could use a pass-catching back to use as a change of pace to Keyes’ smash mouth style.

Keyes is scheduled to take an official visit to Madison on June 17 and will hopefully help the staff gain some more verbal commits.