Wisconsin Football Coach Greg Scruggs Made Waves as Recruiter

The new Wisconsin football regime didn’t take long to establish itself as a legitimate threat on the recruiting trail.

UW position coaches and, more specifically, the recruiting department deserves a tip of the cap for their respective roles in assembling a consensus top-25 class in their first complete cycle.

Everyone knows what Colin Hitschler brought to the table as a recruiter on the East Coast. That’s been well established. But defensive line coach Greg Scruggs is someone who reeled in an impressive haul of his own in his first year with Wisconsin football. 

According to the Big Ten Recruiter rankings, Scruggs finished No. 27 overall in the conference and No. 2 among defensive line coaches. 

Wisconsin Football DL Coach Greg Scruggs Impressed in 2024 Recruiting Class. 

Apr 11, 2023; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin defensive line coach Greg Scruggs is shown during practice Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. Mandatory Credit: Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Greg Scruggs became the Wisconsin Badgers’ defensive line coach following a year as an assistant with the New York Jets. Prior to this role, he spent two seasons working alongside Luke Fickell as the defensive line coach at Cincinnati.

This past season, it’s undeniable that Scruggs had a notable influence in strengthening the team’s defensive line class. This fact holds significant weight when considering the pressing need for DL help at UW, particularly given Wisconsin’s historical struggles from a rankings standpoint.

Wisconsin requires a significant overhaul along his position group to play the scheme the new staff prefers; it’s not some big secret. But the defensive line is one of the most prominent needs separating Wisconsin football from the blue-blood teams they’re chasing.

However, on National Signing Day, the University of Wisconsin received signatures from three 2024 defensive line recruits, four-stars Ernest Willor and Dillan Johnson, and three-star end Hank Weber.

In particular, Willor’s arrival at Wisconsin underscores a huge win in securing a much-needed playmaker. According to the 247Sports all-time Badgers recruiting rankings, Willor is the 16th highest-rated recruit in program history and the top addition along the defensive line in nearly 20 years.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 🎵

Welcome to the Badger family, @ernestwillorjr!#OnWisconsin x #Forever24ward pic.twitter.com/CRlnkOgIml

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) December 20, 2023

To help magnify how significant signing two four-star defensive linemen in the same recruiting class is, Wisconsin has only landed two four-star DLs total since 2016. The others were Garrett Rand and Isaac Hamm.

Final Thoughts 

Now, I’m not pitching Greg Scruggs as the cure to all of the Badgers recruiting problems along the defensive line. 

Wisconsin football had a few notable misses in Liam Andrews (Penn State) and Dominic Nichols (Michigan). Some could even argue that Dillan Johnson wouldn’t have wound up with the Badgers had it not been for Northwestern’s offseason scandal or that Ernest Willor waited too long to make a decision and other spots filled up, which are fair criticisms. 

Ultimately, those players, including Hank Weber, from whom Wisconsin football successfully earned a commitment from after his official visit despite being a North Carolina or Vanderbilt lean at the time, are now Badgers. How they got here is no longer important; all that matters is that they wound up at UW. 

It’s just one season, but it’s hard not to come away impressed with what Coach Scruggs was able to put together in his first class. I’ll be intrigued to see what he does in the next cycle to continue rebuilding the Wisconsin football defensive line room on the recruiting trail.

Either way, it’s a massive step in the right direction.

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