The Wisconsin Badgers are a very different program from the one they were even a few years ago. And while the on-field product has changed a lot, so too has the recruiting leading up those autumn Saturdays. For some, expanding the search may be a welcome sight, but for many fans, the abandonment of in-state recruiting does not sit well.
Over his first three recruiting cycles, Luke Fickell and the Badgers have failed to land a commitment from any of the top three Wisconsin recruits in each year. That means that the 10 best players in the state over the last few years, have gone somewhere other than Wisconsin to play football. Again, maybe there are bigger fish to fry, or those players haven’t been a good fit, but the clear focus on out-of-state recruiting hasn’t yielded better results yet either.
New look Badgers haven’t been focused on in-state talent
The 2024 Badger class, Fickell’s first true full class, will only have one player out of the 22 commits starting for the team this fall. Either Dilin Jones or Darrion Dupree will claim the starting running back role, as most of the others have transferred, or haven’t developed into a starting caliber player yet. It’s still somewhat early to judge the class at they enter their sophomore campaign, but it would’ve been nice to see the plethora of four-star recruits from this class getting on the field more. It would be great to say that the roster is so stacked that there isn’t room on the field for underclassman, but that’s just not the case.
