Wisconsin football recruiting: UW continues to get involved with top 2025 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 offer

• Earlier this week, the Badgers extended a scholarship offer to 2025 EDGE Gabe Kaminski (La Grange Park, Ill.) out of Nazareth Academy. Along with Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee have also offered the talented pass rusher. Other schools that are showing interest include Michigan, Minnesota, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.

Standing at 6-foot-3 and weighing around 215 pounds, Kaminski isn’t rated by any of the major recruiting services yet, but that’s normal for a younger player like him. According to a tweet from Kaminski, he recorded 47 tackles (18 TFL), 12 sacks (25 QB hurries) and three forced fumbles last season.

Here is his Hudl tape and, I’ll be honest...it’s impressive. You would not think he is a freshman by watching those clips. He is tossing larger offensive linemen aside on his way to sacking the quarterback and he’s also showing good instincts on read option plays and not breaking contain. He plays with his hand in the dirt and standing up, so it’ll be interesting to see where Wisconsin envisions him playing. He is most likely still growing, so a lot will probably depend on how much taller he gets.

I think it’s safe to assume that Kaminski will end up being a highly sought after prospect throughout the midwest, if not nationally. The Badgers have been making a concerted effort to turn Illinois into a pipeline state and getting on early on a player like Kaminski is a smart move.

You can only visit if your name is Griffin

• Two offensive linemen from nearby Stoughton High School visited Madison on Thursday. 2025 OT Griffin Rousseau, who already stands at an imposing 6-foot-6 and weighs 280 pounds, took his first unofficial visit to UW. Rousseau attended UW camp back in June, the only rising sophomore to do so, and will presumably be back on campus this fall for a game. He should be a priority for Wisconsin in the ‘25 class and it will be exciting to watch his progress throughout his high school career.

• His teammate, 2023 OL Griffin Empey, joined him in Madison on Thursday. The 6-foot-2 and 260 pound guard doesn’t have any Power 5 offers but does hold scholarship opportunities from Navy, Minnesota State, Bemidji State, Upper Iowa, Northern Michigan, Southwest Minnesota State, Concordia and Minnesota Duluth. The rising senior is also a standout wrestler and the Badgers have traditionally found great success with players like that. One would assume that he is a PWO target for the ‘23 class.