Wisconsin Football Makes Cut for In-State OL, Jim Leonhard Update, More

It’s been a busy couple of days for the Wisconsin football program, ladies and gents, but fear not because BadgerNotes can help get you back up to speed with a roundup of some important news you may have missed.

Wisconsin Football Makes Top 7 for In-State OT

This past week, 2024 four-star offensive tackle Nathan Roy out of Mukwonago (Wis.), released a top seven of Ohio State, Tennesee, Michigan State, Minnesota, UCLA, USC, and the Wisconsin football program. 

top 7 @AllenTrieu @McNamaraRivals @BadgerFootball @OhioStateFB @Vol_Football @MSU_Football @GopherFootball @UCLAFootball @uscfb pic.twitter.com/ER2sKTRcG1

— Nathan Roy (@thenathanroy) February 16, 2023

According to the 247Sports Composite, Roy is the No. 185 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, the No. 12 OT in the country, and the No. 3 player in Wisconsin.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound OT attended UW’s junior day last month and plans to take an unofficial visit to Wisconsin again sometime this spring.

Although the Badgers are currently in a great position with the talented in-state offensive tackle – it’s worth mentioning that Roy grew up on the West coast, and his brother plays for the UCLA Bruins. 

Jim Leonhard Update 

After recently interviewing for the Philidelphia Eagles defensive coordinator vacancy, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported that Jim Leonhard and the franchise mutually decided not to move forward. 

Instead, the former Wisconsin football DC will have hip surgery and sit out of coaching for the year — which was rumored to be his preference when he parted ways with UW. 

With the Green Bay Packers deciding to retain Joe Barry, the stars could align next offseason when Matt LaFleur inevitably needs to hire a new defensive coordinator — and one of the best and brightest minds, who we know he’s interested in (Jim Leonhard), is available right in his backyard. 

Other Wisconsin Football News

After losing Gino Guidugli to a promotion at Notre Dame this past week, Luke Fickell needed to find a replacement for his coaching staff.

It wasn’t long before Fickell promoted an in-house option with which he had great familiarity; Nate Letton moved from quality control coach to tight ends coach to replace Guidugli.

Letton was Fickell’s TE coach at Cincinnati in 2022 and also spent the previous two seasons as a grad assistant for the Bearcats, working with the offensive line.

He’ll take over a tight-end room featuring Clay Cundiff, Jack Eschenbach, Hayden Rucci, and young talents such as JT Seagreaves and Jack Pugh.

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