Wisconsin Football: 2021 Recruiting Class Ranked 13th Nationally

With the latest commitment from T.J. Bollers, the Wisconsin Football Program’s 2021 recruiting class vaults to 13th in the nation.

After a quiet stretch without any commitments through April and much of May, the Wisconsin Football program has had four new commitments over the past three weeks. Two of which are 4-star recruits.

The first domino to fall was 4-star tight end, Jack Pugh. Then in one week, 3-star strongside defensive ends, Darryl Peterson and Mike Jarvis would commit. And the most recent was 4-star outside linebacker, T.J. Bollers.

According to 247Sports, Bollers becomes the Badgers’ second-highest rated recruit in the 2021 class and the fifth 4-star commitment. This group of 4-stars includes the aforementioned Bollers and Pugh, along with J.P. Benzschawel, Riley Mahlman, and Hunter Wohler, and also ties a program record for the most 4-star commitments that was set by the 2020 class.

Another school record set by the incoming 2020 class was that they ranked 26th nationally, the highest Wisconsin has ever been ranked in the Online Rankings Era. However, at this point that looks like another mark that could be in jeopardy of being broken by the 2021 class.

After the commitment from Bollers, the Badgers jumped to the 12th spot nationally, but have since been passed by Notre Dame and they currently sit at 13th in 247Sports’ rankings. For comparison’s sake, ESPN has Wisconsin ranked 18th and Rivals has them 15th.

As far as their ranking compared to the rest of the Big Ten Conference, by 247Sports’ points system, Wisconsin is ranked fourth behind Ohio State (No. 1 overall), Michigan (No. 6), and Iowa (No. 11).

But as I’ve mentioned before, this metric takes into account the total number of commitments and Wisconsin has less than both Michigan and Iowa. So just because they are behind each of those schools in the rankings at the moment, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the overall quality of the Badgers’ 2021 class is less than Michigan’s and Iowa’s. Those two just simply have more commitments at the moment.

So with Wisconsin sitting at 14 recruits and 200.52 points, Iowa at 16 recruits with 201.64 points, and Michigan with 17 recruits and 228.78 points, there is the very real possibility that by the time things are all said and done, that the Badgers could have the second-best class in the Big Ten.

And as good as this class has already been, of course, the Badgers aren’t done yet. Some names to keep your eyes on moving forward include 5-star offensive lineman Nolan Rucci, 3-star wide receiver Skyler Bell, and 4-star tight end Terrance Ferguson.

Over the past few years, each Wisconsin recruiting class has been setting new marks and has been better than the one before it. The 2021 class is following suit as they set a new standard for Wisconsin Football recruiting. This is a testament to Head Coach Paul Chryst and the rest of his staff.