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Overall a pretty solid haul. But you don’t get the impression they are getting considered by any difference-making recruits anymore. Couple 4-star guys, mostly 3-star guys the rest of the class. Granted, these rankings are subjective and the Badgers’ luck with 4-5 star recruits of late has not been great when they do actually sign them, but I get the sense that the Badgers’ are sliding back down the list of out of state top recruits who have been interested the last 5-7 years.

https://badgerswire.usatoday.c...s-its-class-of-2022/

Along those lines, a troubling statement from one of the top in-state OL recruits Billy Schrauth, who chose Notre Dame over UW:

“Growing up here, everyone is a Badger fan, and I heard stuff all the time from everyone,” Schrauth said. “They all wanted me to stay home and put on for the state. I don’t think it was my calling. I thought my calling was greater than just that. I don’t want to be working my ass off all year around to play for peaches. I don’t give a damn about that. I want to be playing for national championships.”

That’s pure recruiting speak, and you can bet if one program is saying it, all the contenders are saying it. The recruiting has taken big hits lately- the lack of skill position recruitment has ruined the offense. Allen represents a new star, but if they can’t recruit receivers and QBs Schrauth’s comments hit home.

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Great post and thanks for the link.  I truly believe that the last two years have really hurt the Badgers program.  The COVID year was a wash and hurt a lot of teams but this past year it was just painful to watch that offense. 

It just has to be tough to get a WR to come to Madison when they know they will spend 90% of their time blocking and catch the occasional pass.  I have said before it would be nice to make UWs offense more dynamic but unless you get the skill players to run it (and coaching imagination) we will be stuck in a rut offensively.

Pryor and Davis looked decent early in their careers but never improved and were average at best.  Dike has shown ability, but again, can he be counted on?  Not sure.

A staple in the (old) Chryst passing game was the TE screen.  Can’t remember the last time I saw one of those plays.

Something just isn’t right with this team and how they run their passing game.  Since becoming head coach, none of their QBs got better and they can’t seem to attract and keep decent WRs.   Chryst was an exceptional offensive coordinator/play caller.  Not so much lately.

Chryst was ordinary as head coach at Pittsburgh and they have looked basically above average except for one year. Maybe he’s just not good enough to be head coach of what should be a top 15-20 program.

When you consider how dominant the defense has been if the offense was decent this team would be a legit playoff contender.  My concern is now it seems they might be happy just being an 8 win type team.   The comments from Schrauth are damning.

The last point is someone else mentioned coaching and development matters.  When’s the last time you saw a player on offense not named JT or Allen become really good?    All of the studs are coming from the defensive side of the ball.   Case in point- Leo Chenal was a 3 star guy.   He’s a one man wrecking machine at LB.  

Look over the last 25 years at Badgers football and there are numerous examples of players on offense that became really, really good at WR or TE.  Lee Evans was a 3 star guy.  Jared Abbrederis and Alex Erickson were walk ons. Brandon Williams wasn’t a highly touted guy.  

Last edited by Tschmack
@Tschmack posted:

Pryor and Davis looked decent early in their careers but never improved and were average at best.  Dike has shown ability, but again, can he be counted on?  Not sure.

A staple in the (old) Chryst passing game was the TE screen.  Can’t remember the last time I saw one of those plays.

Something just isn’t right with this team and how they run their passing game.  Since becoming head coach, none of their QBs got better and they can’t seem to attract and keep decent WRs.   Chryst was an exceptional offensive coordinator/play caller.  Not so much lately.

Chryst was ordinary as head coach at Pittsburgh and they have looked basically above average except for one year. Maybe he’s just not good enough to be head coach of what should be a top 15-20 program.

When you consider how dominant the defense has been if the offense was decent this team would be a legit playoff contender.  My concern is now it seems they might be happy just being an 8 win type team.   The comments from Schrauth are damning.

The last point is someone else mentioned coaching and development matters.  When’s the last time you saw a player on offense not named JT or Allen become really good?    All of the studs are coming from the defense.  Case in point- Leo Chenal was a 3 star guy.   He’s a one man wrecking machine at LB.  

Tschmack,  One of the things that I have been noticing is that the OL seems to not be up to its usual standards lately.  No clue if that's coaching or just not the right talent at that position.   I really like Chryst he seems like a great guy but I do wonder about his offense and ability to lead a program that honestly should be better than it is right now.  It just seems slow and more plodding than even the usual UW offense.  Honestly how many times can you call a dive play up the gut?

One of my huge concerns is how long will Leonard stick around?  by all accounts that I have heard and read he is happy and content and doesn't want to go anywhere.  But, if someone comes calling with a dump truck full of cash will he take off?

Well, there is a sense that the last 2 recruiting classes before this year is loaded with significant talent. Rucci was a 5 star guy, Logan Brown was highly touted, there’s been a few of 4 star guys as well like Nelson and Wedig and Benzschawel. Based on the recruiting rankings, that should be a very talented group.

Last edited by Music City

They have two gems on the coaching staff. Obviously Jimmy Leonhard is one of them, but Bob Bostad is the other one.  

Bostad was TE coach that helped develop Travis Beckum and Owen Daniels and Garrett Graham.  During his tenure as OL coach, they had a dominant run of players from Peter Konz and Kevin Zeitler and Gabe Carimi and Rick Wagner and Travis Frederick among others.  Since being ILB coach, they’ve featured guys like TJ Edwards and Chris Orr and Jack Sanborn.  

Bottom line is arguably some of the most productive years and players they’ve had have been under his watch.

Ironically, the TEs and OL have really underperformed in recent history.  WRs have been a non factor for several years now.   Maybe it’s time to move Bostad to one of those units?  

Last edited by Tschmack

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