Wisconsin Football In-State Recruiting Challenges Offer Learning Opportunity

The Wisconsin football team has a three-decade-long reputation as a program, dating back to the Barry Alvarez era, that’s built its rosters foundation by focusing recruiting efforts on keeping in-state prospects home.

UW even managed to sign the No. 1 player in Wisconsin for eight of the past 10 seasons — but the in-state angle looks slightly different in year one under Luke Fickell.

Following three-star tight end, Robert Booker from Waunakee, flipping his commitment to ULCA, the top six 2024 in-state recruits have all officially committed elsewhere, which is uncharted territory for the Wisconsin football program during the online rankings era.

As it stands, UW has two in-state recruits committed in its 2024 recruiting class, four-star offensive tackle Derek Jensen and three-star inside linebacker Landon Gauthier.

“I think that’s, to me, the biggest thing is where maybe we didn’t do as good of a job in the state, in particular this year,” Fickell told The Athletic. “What I’ve learned from other guys at other places, sometimes they bail then and say, ok, well, our philosophy is going to be: Recruit the places and the areas we know,” he continued. “No. Our philosophy is going to be: Recruit our state first and foremost, our 350-mile radius next.”

Adding Context to Wisconsin’s 2024 In-State Recruiting Class 

I want to preface anything I’m about to say by acknowledging that there’s no way of knowing whether the Wisconsin football program would have landed the top in-state recruits had things played out differently, but the context here is important. 

Luke Fickell and his staff don’t get a free pass because it’s year one — but it will take some time to establish relationships with in-state coaches and programs. And by all accounts, they’ve done a terrific job making inroads. 

At the top of the board, four-star Catholic Memorial standouts Donovan Harbour and Corey Smith were invited to Madison for UW’s junior day in January, and the staff decided to go in a different direction recruiting-wise — they wound up at Penn State.

On the other hand, offensive tackle Nathan Roy was a high-priority target for the Wisconsin football staff. He grew up on the West Coast and didn’t have the ties to the program most in-state prospects do — he wound up at Minnesota in the end. 

Offensive tackle Garrett Sexton was a peculiar recruitment. I’d bet the farm Sexton would have been a Badger if he got offered a scholarship sooner, but the Wisconsin coaching staff wanted to see how his 6-foot-8, 245-pound frame filled out and decided to wait. He wound up getting the offer after he announced his top three and later announced his commitment to Penn State. This recruitment was botched, IMO. 

More recently, tight end Rob Booker flipped his commitment to UCLA, citing Grant Stec, one of the nation’s top TEs, already committed and wanting to be “the guy” somewhere else. Nobody can fault him for that. 

And then there’s Middleton linebacker Sam Pilof who wound up choosing Rutgers. At one point, he was considered a heavy Wisconsin football lean, but other factors played a role in this recruitment going another way. 

“We’re continuing to learn more about it [in-state recruiting], build relationships with the coaches to learn more about the football within the state,” Fickell said. “I think that is a big deal, and that is a little bit harder not being from here and not recruiting the area. So, we rely a little bit more on the high school coach to tell us what he really thinks.”

Although it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, Fickell averaged more than 10 in-state commits per season at Cincinnati during his five-year run with the Bearcats. Yes, Ohio has far more talent on a yearly basis than Wisconsin, but the point is still the same — the talent in his backyard has always been a priority. 

Why Wisconsin Football Gets a Pass (This Year)

Luke Fickell has a track record of success, which includes a College Football Playoff appearance, so he and his staff have earned the benefit of the doubt.

The Badgers coaching staff came in, did their evaluations, and decided which kids they intended to prioritize on their board. But as long as the players they recruit (and land) are of similar pedigree, I have no issue with the outcome. My only fear is becoming reliant on winning out-of-state recruiting battles for those top talents because UW is unlikely to win them anywhere near as consistently as they would with in-state recruits.

No, Wisconsin football wasn’t able to find success in-state in 2024, but that doesn’t mean they won’t in the coming years.

“We’ve got to build better relationships,” Fickell said. “We’ve got to get on guys, earlier.”

It’s a bummer that the top in-state talents will be playing college football elsewhere, but there’s no reason to push panic just yet. Fickell has done an excellent job of attracting talent in his short time at Wisconsin, so I have no reason to believe he can’t right the ship and buck this narrative as soon as 2025.

“The kids from our communities, from our state, if we’re going to offer them, then we are going to go after them, and we’re never going to back away.”

I’ll be worried if this becomes a year-to-year trend for Wisconsin football; until then, meh.

Luke Fickell Expedited Wisconsin Football Retooling Process Via Transfer Portal

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