The Wisconsin Badgers lost the top recruit in their own state to their border rival, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Gavin Meier is a 6’6″, 295lb 3-star offensive tackle from Janesville, Wisconsin. He committed to PJ Fleck and the Gophers last week. He then decided to fuel the rivalry with some choice words in the Athletic about the state of the Badgers’ football program under Luke Fickell.
Gavin Meier tears into Luke Fickell and the Badgers, “This isn’t the Barry Alvarez Wisconsin.”
Jesse Temple of the Athletic wrote a brilliant piece that is worth the time of any tried-and-true Wisconsin football fan. It’s all about the state of the football program and what it means that the top in-state recruit chose to go to the rival school across the border. However, that article includes some scathing words from Meier, who let PJ Fleck get in his head and convince him of his slimy sales pitch.
“I have to keep in mind that this isn’t the same Wisconsin they used to be. This isn’t the Barry Alvarez Wisconsin. I don’t like throwing shade at anybody because Wisconsin is still a great program. But Minnesota, they’ve proven to be good. The past three out of four years they’ve beaten Wisconsin.”Gavin Meier via The Athletic
He goes on to say that one more losing season from Wisconsin may spell the end of Luke Fickell and that era, everything becomes uncertain, which is why he picked Minnesota over Wisconsin. This gives a window into a few problems.
First, the state of Wisconsin high school football isn’t great if the top in-state recruit is a 3-star and his biggest option in his mind is the Golden Gophers. Yikes. Second, it also shows what sort of recruiting strategy PJ Fleck and Minnesota are using to lure kids away from Wisconsin. It’s slimy at best. Finally, there’s some truth to what Meier says. There is uncertainty around Fickell, and this season, things really need to show some level of turnaround.
