By Mark Pszonak
For most of this century, it has been assumed that the top football recruits in Wisconsin would end up in Madison. The best players grew up as fans of the Badgers and dreamed of playing for their state university. Since Luke Fickell took over in late November, 2022, all of that seems to be changing.
From 2004 to 2014 (according to On3.com rankings) the Badgers signed the top player in Wisconsin. Then after a two-year lull, they did the same between 2017 and 2022. This included signing the top five players in 2017, the top three players in 2018, the top four players in 2020 and the top six players in 2021.
While Coach Fickell did not have too many of his fingerprints on the Class of 2023 due to his late arrival, the Badgers did sign the top player in the state, but then none of the other nine. Since then, it has gotten worse. The Class of 2024 only brought in the #5 recruit (Derek Jenson) while the top four went to Minnesota and Penn State. The Badgers then lost the #1 and #2 players from the Class of 2025 to Notre Dame and #3 to Tennessee before signing #4 through #7. So, will the Class of 2026 be better? It doesn’t seem likely since the #1 recruit in Wisconsin, OL Samuel Simpson, recently committed to Indiana in what is shaping up to be a very down year in the state.
LETS GO! @CCignettiIU @Coach_Bostad @IndianaFootball @CoachScherz @CoachMHaskins #WIN26 #IUFB pic.twitter.com/1aF9VGtfBv
— Samuel "Sam" Simpson (@SamSimpson2026) February 1, 2025
This is not the Wisconsin program everyone has been accustomed to. The Badgers lost their offensive identity, then failed to make a bowl game for the first time since 2001. As a result, numerous important players entered to transfer portal, plus the much-publicized mess involving Xavier Lucas had to be dealt with. The current reality of the program has been simmering for two years, so none of this should come as a surprise.
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As doubts continue to mount regarding the likelihood of Coach Fickell turning this back around, many curious eyes will be on Madison in the coming months to see what happens next.
