Chryst Named New Head Coach

The Badgers picked up a commitment from Green Bay QB-Alec Ingold.  He is being recruited to play linebacker.  He was previously a Northern Illinois commit.

 

Ingold is the sixth linebacker in this class (7th if you count Nate Howard, who may or may not grow into a DLman).  They have now "over-recruited" at linebacker, which tells me that it's pretty likely one of the early linebacker recruits is going to de-commit and go elsewhere.

 

All other Division I offers for Ingold were from MAC schools, Air Force and Pitt.  Chryst seems to be in full-on settle mode at this point.  This also puts the Badgers at 25 in this class which is probably the max number.  Windsor, mentioned in the previous post, is probably plan B if one of the DT commits decides to go elsewhere (I'm surprised neither of those guys have flipped to Oregon State yet).

Just checked the Badger's website and they made the official announcements for these positions yesterday:

 

Daronte Jones - defensive backs coach

Tim Tibesar - outside linebackers coach

 

Still no official annoucement on:

Quarterbacks (maybe Chryst will just do that himself?)

Running Backs (Thomas Brown?  why no announcement yet?)

Wide Receivers

 

Anderson bailed on WI due to admission standards.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/colle...rsen-to-oregon-state

 

Well, at least he admitted it,

Keep On Wisconsin, Keep On!!

I couldn't find any sort of press release, but Thomas Brown was added on the roster page of the Badger's official website.  Wide receiver coach is the only spot still open (possibly a QB coach if Chryst doesn't just do that himself).

Another recruit signs with the Badgers. Bradrick Shaw, a 3 star running back recruit signs with Wisconsin.  http://wisconsin.247sports.com...o-Wisconsin-35033156

 

Also Kraig Howe a DT from Dayton Ohio committed during his official visit.

 

 http://wisconsin.247sports.com...-Wisconsin--35027464

 

  

Lots of big names were interested in him.  Hope one of these guys can play out wide and catch passes

Interesting adds with Shaw and Howe.

 

This puts the Badgers 1 over 25 which likely means the Badger staff are expecting some other losses.

 

Shaw is a great fit for the Badgers and with Stevenson could form a good "thunder and lightning" combo.  But did the Badgers need 3 running backs in this class?  There have been rumors for awhile about Crookshank's grades and now it looks like there migh be some legitimacy to those rumors.

 

One of the Badger defensive tackle commits, Elu Aydon, is visiting Oregon State this weekend and is a pretty likely candidate to flip.  So Howe is the likely replacment for him.  I wonder if they still have a scholarship for Robert Windsor now?  I've really read some positive things about Windsor over the last couple months and am really hoping he'll be a Wisconsin Badger.

Elu Aydon has officially flipped to Oregon State.  Badgers back at 25 full offers.

 

Robert Windsor committed to Penn State.  Really disappointed he won't be a Badger, an in-state kid that seemed to have pretty good upside (I probably would have graded him as the state's #2 prospect behind Dietzen).

New Jersey DE-Jake Pickard is still being listed as a Wisconsin commit on the recruiting websites, but Harbaugh is really after him and it's expected Pickard is going to flip to Michigan within the next couple of days.

Harbaugh also made a personal call to Bucky commit Titus Booker last night to play RB.

Losses coming pretty heavy now.  Two defensive backs decommit today.  Xzavien Ausborne and Takadrae Williams.  Both are from the same high school in Dallas and were recruited by Bill Busch.

 

Both of these players were only two-star recruits (Rivals), but the Badgers needed some numbers at defensive back this season.  Currently they only have one defensive back commit (Titus Booker, who Tuna reports is being lured by Harbaugh).  Next season is the last season for Mike Caputo, Darius Hillary, Devin Gaulden, Tanner McEvoy (just penciling him in for safety right now), T.J. Reynard, Terrance Floyd and A.J. Jordan...so the Badgers will suffer pretty heavy losses at DB after the 2015 season.  Would have been nice to have brought in 3 or 4 quality defensive back prospects in this class.  It looks like that will be tough now.

"mutual decision" leads me to believe this was academics and Anderson got another commit from kids who could not qualify academically.  I'm suspicious this isn't the "new coach doesn't want the old coaches kids" kind of mutual decision, because Aranda had to be involved from the beginning.  

 

Might open a spot for this guy or this guy

Yeah, I read somewhere that these two guys were a package deal and one of them couldn't qualify.  This seems to be an emerging theme with Andersen's class and the guys who decommitted.  It makes you wonder if he was pulling the chains of these guys or if he just thought he could ram them through admissions when the time came, but either way IMHO it's more a smudge on him than Chryst.  It also sheds some light on perhaps the biggest reason he bolted.  

 

Andersen has whined about not being able to load up on JUCO guys and the admission standards at UW since he got to Oregon State.  Good thing for him that in Corvallis he can load up on every dumdum he can find without worrying about any of that.  

Agreed, this isn't reflective on Chryst at all.  Maybe there was an academic factor in this?  Maybe it was a package deal for the two high school teammates?  Even if those things are put aside, the one thing that is known for sure is that Bill Busch recruited these young men and Bill Busch is no longer with the Badgers.  If the main recruiter leaves then it's going to be challenging for the next head coach to retain the guys that had developed the strongest relationship with that recruiter.  Same thing with Aydon, who can blame Chryst if that young man decided to follow Coach Kauha'aha'a to Oregon State?  It's just part of the recruiting game.

 

Still disappointing to lose these two defensive backs.  Arrington Farrar has been talked about for awhile as a possibility and looks to be a pretty good prospect.  Would love to see Bucky get him.  I don't know squat about Trenard Davis.

 

Looked up who in town for an official visit this weekend.  A couple interesting names but no top flight prospects (note that Farrar was in Madison last weekend, will visit Notre Dame this upcoming weekend).  The star ratings are from Rivals.

 

CB-Trenard Davis (FL) 3-star

CB-Kenyatta Anderson (FL) 3-star

DE-Andrew Ruzek (WI) 2-star (Prefered Walk-On)

OLB-Jake Whalen (WI) 2-star (also has an offer from Iowa)

P-Conner Allen (WI) 0-star (Prefered Walk-On)

CB-Elijah Strong (WI) 0-star (Prefered Walk-On)

ATH-Troy Laufenberg (WI) 0-star (Prefered Walk-On)

S-Bret Verstegen (WI) 0-star

 

Here is a copy of the year-by-year scholarships of the Football program.

 

As PJ mentions, after the 2015 season, there is NOBODY even to wear a uni to play DB if Booker leaves(he's in Ann Arbor this weekend).

 

Kind of a bad situation if one has to rely on walk-ons for depth of your DB's positions.  All the 85 scholarships are taken.

 

https://www.rivals.com/content...=907&CID=1650786

One of the receivers in last year's recruiting class, Natrell Jamerson, will be moving to cornerback next year.

 

http://wisconsin.247sports.com...Cornerback--35185385

Sounds like Tenard Davis cancelled his visit to Madison these weekend.  Another DB possibility appears to be off the board. 

 

http://wisconsin.247sports.com...g-Wisconsin-35164590

Booker says he is staying

 

“I appreciate all the extra attention from Michigan and their interest in me as an athele and a person too,” Booker said. “But I feel like Wisconsin is where my heart is at. So I didn’t want to drag anything along, because my mind was made up.”

this one sucks

 

 

Honored to announce my Commitment to Syracuse University!!�������� pic.twitter.com/dG7BPMiYhJ

— Jake Pickard (@JakePickard2015) January 30, 2015

Lill gansta going on there in that pic? 

DE-Nate Howard just flipped to Missouri.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/f...r-David-Moore-164601

 

QB-David Moore from Georgia.  Note that he is a 2016 recruit, so he'll be a member of next year's class.  He was just at Illinois and is in Madison today (poor day for a visit as the weather is terrible).

LB-Dominic Sheppard just decommitted.  He's the 10th player the Badgers have lost in the last few weeks.

 

On the positive side it sounds like the Badgers are in the lead for Georgia LB/S Terez Hall.  He looks like a real solid prospect who has offers from Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.  I'm guessing that if he picks Wisconsin that he'll be used like Caputo.

 

247sports is also predicting that Wisconsin LB Jake Whalen will also join the Badgers.  Another pure LB in the mix makes me think yet another early linebacker recruit is going to decommit, most likely candidate would be Jordan Griffin as he is visiting Vanderbilt this weekend.

 

 

link

 

“The top prospects in this class I think are better than who they normally get,” ESPN Big Ten recruiting analyst Tom VanHaaren said of the Badgers’ 2015 class.

“I think it’s full of guys that you would expect Wisconsin to get and to have success with. It’s kind of a class that you look at and say, ‘Yeah, that makes sense for what they try to do.’ ”

 

-snip-

 

Scout.com still ranks UW’s class 30th nationally and fourth in the Big Ten with an average star rating of 3.14 — close to as good as the Badgers have done since the site began team rankings in 2002.

Sounds like Jake Whalen has given Wisconsin a verbal and the Badgers have recruited him as a fullback.

Actually he's going to play linebacker. Here is the story:

 

http://wisconsin.247sports.com...-For-Whalen-35273548

From the article linked in the previous post:

 

Whalen, the nation's the nation's No. 55 ranked inside linebacker, will play fullback at Wisconsin next season.

 

A two-way player for Wausau West, Whalen played both linebacker and fullback in high school, but carried the load as the team's leading rusher. In 2014, Whalen ran for 1,001 yards and eight touchdowns, anticipating a smooth transition to the collegiate level.

 

"I was more of a running back, but I learn quick," he said. "I have no doubt in my mind I'll be able to transfer to fullback. I'll be just fine."

RB-Darren Crookshank decommitted yesterday.  There had been rumors for months about his academics so this was not a surprise.  The Badgers did not need three running backs in this class so it was apparent something was up when Bradrick Shaw committed.

 

So far this morning it sounds like the Badgers have received signed letters of intent from the following:

FB-Jake Whalen

WR-Andrew James

TE-David Edwards

OL-David Moorman

DE-Kraig Howe

DE-David Pfaff

LB-Chris Orr

Add in the early enrollees and the Badgers are currently up to 12 official commitments:

QB-Austin Kafentzis

QB-Alex Hornibrook

TE-Kyle Penniston

OL-Jon Dietzen

LB-Nick Thomas

 

Of the remaining 8 that are verbals, all seem to be solid except for two.  It's widely believed that linebacker Jordan Griffin will flip to Vanderbilt and many believe defensive back Titus Booker will flip to Michigan (the Wolverines are recruiting him to play running back) despite statements from Booker earlier this week that he is firmly committed to the Badgers.

 

At this time it appears there are only two big names that the Badgers are in on.  Georgia safety Arrington Farrar (Rivals 4-star) is rumored to be deciding between Wisconsin and Stanford and is believed to be a Wisconsin lean at this time.  He is announcing his decision at 2 o'clock centeral time today.  Georgia linebacker/safety Terez Hall (Rivals 3-star) is also in the mix for the Badgers.  CB-Kenyatta Anderson (Florida, Rivals 3-star) was also being talked about a few days ago but all has gone quiet on him so I'm guessing he's out of the mix now.

 

So it looks like the Badgers might wind up with extra scholarships available.  I think when today is over they will probably be at 84 scholarships and that's not even counting the guys they will lose down the road to transfers, grades, injuries, etc which one would think would be at least 3 or 4 players.  Most were expecting them to sign 25 but it appears they will probably end up with 21.  It should be an interesting day.

 

 

 

Rivals just removed LB-Jordan Griffin from the Badger's list and he appears on Vanderbilt's list as having signed his letter of intent.  That brings the decommit list up to 11 for Wisconsin.  Only questionable verbal at this time is Titus Booker.

CB-Titus Booker now listed on Wisconsin's Rivals page as having signed his letter of intent.  RB-Jordan Stevenson and LB-Zach Baun also listed as having signed their letters of intent.  The remaining four verbals (RB-Bradrick Shaw, OL-Kevin Estes, DT-Olive Sagapolu, LB-Alec Ingold) are all believed to be solid with Wisconsin.   

Badgers land Arrington Farrar - nice scoop by Chryst!

 

http://bleacherreport.com/arti...d-4-star-db-prospect

Heard this this morning....out of the 48 starters (11 each O, 11 eachDand P and Ks) in the most recent SB not one was a 5 Star recruit In college.

Position listings come from http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport...igning-Day-2015.html .

 

Scholarships:

 

QB-Austin Kafentzis (Utah)

QB-Alex Hornibrook (Pennsylvania)

RB-Bradrick Shaw (Alabama)

RB-Jordan Stevenson (Texas)

FB-Jake Whalen (Wisconsin)

WR-Andrew James (Florida)

TE-Kyle Penniston (California)

TE-David Edwards (Illinois)

OL-Kevin Estes (California)

OL-David Moorman (Michigan)

OL-Jon Dietzen (Wisconsin)

DE-Kraig Howe (Ohio)

DE-David Pfaff (Wisconsin)

NG-Olive Sagapolu (California)

LB-Nick Thomas (Florida)

OLB-Arrington Farrar (Georgia)

OLB-Zack Baun (Wisconsin)

ILB-Chris Orr (Texas)

ILB-Alec Ingold (Wisconsin)

CB-Titus Booker (Illinois)

DB-Serge Trezy (Florida)

 

Walk-On:

 

RB-Troy Laufenberg (Wisconsin)

WR-Noah Stengel (Wisconsin)

TE-Mitchell Herl (Wisconsin)

DE-Andrew Ruzek (Wisconsin)

LB-Ty DeForest (Wisconsin)

OLB-Tyler Johnson (Wisconsin)

CB-Elijah Strong (Wisconsin)

S-Bret Verstegen (Wisconsin)

K-Zach Hintze (Wisconsin)

link

 

Former Oakland Raiders wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore has accepted the same position at Wisconsin, according to a source.

 

Gilmore, 47, coached in college for 18 years before spending the past three seasons in charge of Oakland’s wide receivers. He coached the position at USC in 2011 and prior to that served in the same capacity for six seasons at Nebraska, where he eventually also added recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach responsibilities.

 

Gilmore also coached wide receivers at Colorado (2003-04), Purdue (2001-02) and Houston (2000). He was tight ends coach at Kansas in 1999 and coached wide receivers at his alma mater, Wyoming, the previous two seasons.

Nice resume.

The TE, RB, and OL prospects are very intriguing as is the late addition OLB from Georgia. 

Not much to speak of with WRs or DBs though and those were not exactly areas of strength for UW last year.  It sounds like McEvoy is moving back to safety and that's a good move but maybe Chryst plans on featuring the TE position more often?

Ouch.  This one hurts.

 

Brown Hired as RB Coach at UGA

 

Hard to blame the guy for going home, but this has already put the status of at least one big-time recruit for 2016 in a state of flux.  He was opening up some pipelines in GA and other parts of the southeast.

 

 

Yeah, there is immediate recovery from this one. Settle would be a good coaching replacement, but he can't recruit like Brown can.