2026 In-State Recruits Check out Wisconsin Football Practice

On Saturday, April 6th, the local media had the chance to attend another Wisconsin football practice. It marked the Badgers’ first fully padded session of the spring and the first one outdoors.

Walking the sidelines during practice were a number of prospects from the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes. Two of them were in-state products, James Thomas and Patrick Greisen.

“I hope that they come in here and they get a good sense of what the culture and environment is really like,” Fickell told reporters. “If you don’t love to compete, if you don’t love to put it out on the line .. if that’s not what you love, then this probably isn’t going to be the right place for you. And so, it’s great to have guys here.”

Wisconsin Football Offers First 2026 In-State Recruit 

James Thomas is a 6-foot-4, 300-pound sophomore from Oak Creek High School. Following the interior offensive lineman’s visit with Wisconsin football, he left with a scholarship offer from Badgers assistant AJ Blazek.

“I am very honored to receive an offer from Badgers Football,” Thomas wrote. “Thank you to Coach Blaz, Casey Rabach, and the entire coaching staff for the offer.”

I am very honored to receive an offer from @BadgerFootball!! Thank you to coach @CoachBlaz, @CaseyRabach_61 and the entire coaching staff for the offer #GoBadgers @MJ_NFLDraft @PrepRedzoneWI @travisWSN @PaarJoel #wisfb pic.twitter.com/DswQ1Prhq5

— James Thomas (@liljamearl) April 6, 2024

According to PrepRedzone, Thomas is the top-ranked in-state recruit for the 2026 cycle.

Thomas also holds a scholarship offer from the Arkansas Razorbacks and is the first known in-state offer for the Wisconsin football team.

Badgers Keeping Tabs on 2026 In-State Quarterback

Additionally, the Wisconsin Badgers staff got a closer look at Patrick Greisen, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound signal-caller out of West De Pere High School during an unofficial visit. He also took a visit to Iowa in March.

“The first thing we did was watch a video about Wisconsin and listen to a speech about their academics compared to other colleges,” Greisen said. “Then we watched the practice which had a lot of intensity. What I thought was super cool is after practice, we got a tour of the campus.”

As a sophomore, Greisen completed 93 of 130 passes (71.5%) for 1,923 yards, 24 touchdowns, and five interceptions.

“I like how the coaches run the practice, the relationship they have with players, and especially how they run the offense and calls plays,” Greisen told Badgernotes. “My relationship is good with a number of coaches, and they’re easy to talk to.”

Thus far, the Wisconsin football coaching staff and position coach Phil Longo have only handed out scholarship offers to Dia Bell, Will Griffin, and Faizon Brandon in the 2026 recruiting class. That said, Greisen is an in-state product at quarterback to keep an eye on moving forward.

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