Wisconsin Football Officially Lands their Highest Rated Recruiting Class
By Paul Bretl
The Wisconsin Football team officially lands their highest-rated recruiting class in program history.
We knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time before the pen hit the paper, and the Wisconsin Football program landed their highest-rated recruiting class in the online rankings era. Everything went according to plan, and now, it’s official.
December 16th was the early National Signing Period for football recruits, and all 21 of Wisconsin’s commitments from the 2021 class signed their National Letters of Intent and will join a program that has been picking up steam on the recruiting trail the last few years.
According to 247Sports, the Badgers’ 2021 class ranks as the 16th best in the nation and is third in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State and Michigan. The 2020 class headlined by several 4-star recruits including Trey Wedig, Jack Nelson, Jalen Berger, Nick Herbig, and Kaden Johnson, set a program record last year with a national ranking of 26th. Before that, the 2019 class featuring Logan Brown and Graham Mertz came in ranked 29th, which was a school best at that time as well.
The Wisconsin Football program continues to outdo themselves in recent years, with each recruiting class topping the one before it. However, doing that again with the 2022 class is going to be difficult after what ended up being a loaded 2021 class.
This group is led by 5-star offensive tackle Nolan Rucci, who is rated as the fifth-best tackle in this class and the 15th best overall player, according to 247Sports composite rankings. The Badgers also added five 4-star recruits, which includes JP Benzschawel, Riley Mahlman, TJ Bollers, Hunter Wohler, and Braelon Allen, who was the first member of the 2022 class to commit but reclassified to the 2021 class.
Wisconsin would also land two receivers in Markus Allen and Skyler Bell, both of which could push for playing time next season, quarterback Deacon Hill, and loaded up on pass-rushers, linebackers, running backs, and a few corners as well. Here is a look at all 21 signees who will be joining the team next season:
Offense
JP Benzschawel OT (4-star)
Riley Mahlman OT (4-star)
Deacon Hill QB (3-star)
Jackson Acker RB (3-star)
Loyal Crawford RB (3-star)
Antwan Roberts RB (3-star)
Defense
Hunter Wohler S (4-star)
Bryan Sanbord ILB (3-star)
Ayo Adebogun DE (3-star)
This shortened season for the Wisconsin Football team hasn’t gone as hoped. After a blazing start for Mertz against Illinois and Michigan, the Badgers offense has gone ice cold — and I mean ice cold — as they’ve now lost three in a row while looking futile in the process. As has often been the case, the defense under Jim Leonhard has been very good, but Mertz is going through growing pains, and this offense needs more playmakers.
However, there is plenty of reasons for optimism. For one, in what has been an unusual year having to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the Badgers’ recent performances are more likely a blip on the radar rather than a trend developing. On top of that, there have also been several young players who have stepped into prominent roles on this team, some of which include Mertz, Jalen Berger, Chimere Dike, and Nick Herbig.
Those players, as well as the many other returning starters, coupled with a stout 2020 class that will now have a year under their belts at the collegiate level along with a 2021 class that on paper is the best in program history, and Badger fans should be quite excited for the future. Not to mention that Paul Chryst is still at the helm, and Jim Leonhard is still the Defensive Coordinator.
When it comes to recruiting, it takes everyone within the program from Chryst all the way down the ladder to be successful. While Chryst, Leonhard, and Offensive Coordinator/O-Line Coach Joe Rudolph will get a lot of the credit — and deservedly so — Saeed Khalif, who is the Badgers Director of Player Personnel, is the man behind the scenes helping to make all of this happen. As Khalif has pointed out on Twitter, these past few recruiting classes are the new standard at Wisconsin and the Badgers should be in the conversation when it comes to the nation’s top football programs (via Jesse Temple at The Athletic):
"“We’re a blueblood program, and that’s where we should be. We have to work to continue to do that. That means getting in some battles. We want to feel like we’ve got a strong enough product to do that. That’s kind of where we’re from. That’s the space we come from. I feel like we have the product. We’ve had the history and we feel like we need to be in those conversations on those levels.”"