Wisconsin football tight end Rob Booker medically retires
Rob Booker has medically retired from Wisconsin football due to head injuries but will remain involved with the team.
The Wisconsin football team will move forward without one of its most intriguing in-state signees from the 2024 class.
Freshman tight end Rob Booker, a Waunakee native, has medically retired from football due to head injuries and neurological complications, a team spokesperson confirmed to BadgerNotes.
Booker was not listed on the Badgers’ newly released spring roster, and while his playing career is over, he does plan to remain involved with the football program in some capacity under Luke Fickell.
A highly-touted in-state recruit
Booker’s path to Wisconsin wasn’t the most conventional.
Initially committing to the Wisconsin Badgers in January 2023, he later flipped to UCLA that summer before reaffirming his commitment to his hometown program during the early signing period.
Booker chose Wisconsin over scholarship offers from UCLA, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, Pitt, Purdue, and Syracuse, among others.
Standing 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, he was ranked as the No. 35 tight end in the 2024 class, according to the composite, and was expected to develop into a pass-catching threat in Wisconsin’s offense.
However, Booker never saw the field for Wisconsin football, spending his entire freshman season listed as “out” on the Big Ten’s weekly availability report.
What this means for Wisconsin’s TE room
Losing Booker might not do much to affect the on-field product, but it does impact the team's depth at a position that has undergone significant changes.
The Badgers were already working through a transition, with Ball State transfer Tanner Koziol expected to step into a starting role in 2025.
Junior Tucker Ashcraft returns as one of the team’s most experienced options and will slot in as the No. 2, while Jackson Acker, a former running back and fullback, has made the move to tight end as well—presumably filling the hybrid role that Riley Nowakowski previously held.
Beyond those names, Wisconsin still has redshirt junior JT Seagreaves, redshirt sophomore Jackson McGohan, redshirt freshman Grant Stec, and early enrollee Emmett Bork on the roster this spring. Another freshman, Nizyi Davis, will join Nate Letton's tight end room this summer.
That said, Wisconsin’s tight end position has been a wasteland in terms of production over the last two seasons.
The returning group—Ashcraft, Seagreaves, and McGohan—combined for just 17 catches and 128 yards last season, highlighting the lack of consistent production from the tight end position. In Jeff Grimes' system, tight ends play a critical role in both 11 and 12 personnel packages, meaning Wisconsin needs more out of the position moving forward.
The Badgers are looking to unlock more versatility from the group, particularly in the short-to-intermediate passing game, where they’ve struggled to establish a reliable presence. If Wisconsin can provide Billy Edwards Jr. a legitimate pass-catching option, it could add a much-needed dimension to an offense that has lacked balance in recent years.
With Wisconsin expected to rely on Koziol, Ashcraft, and Acker to lead the group, the hope is that guys like Seagreaves and Stec can take a step forward and provide quality depth while the younger players continue to develop.
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