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Wisconsin’s football recruiting net for the 2024 class eventually covered 13 states

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5 months ago

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Wisconsin’s football recruiting net for the 2024 class eventually covered 13 states


MADISON – As Luke Fickell pondered the geographical composition of his first full recruiting class at Wisconsin, he was struck by the number of states UW’s staff hit.

Thirteen.

“I think that to me is a bit unique,” Fickell said Wednesday after UW signed 22 players for the 2024 class. “As I walked in the door here a year ago, I would have said we’re going to be regionalized in a lot of ways. We’ll make sure our footprint is in the Big Ten.

“But then where else does the brand really reach? This is my first (full) go-around and to see how strong the brand really is and to stretch over 13 different states, with a lot of really, really good football players, guys we targeted for a long time, I see how strong this brand is.”

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UW on Wednesday signed four players from Illinois; three apiece from Wisconsin, Maryland and Pennsylvania; and one each from Florida, Minnesota, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, South Dakota, Hawaii and Tennessee.

“The ability to go across the United States and find the players we need to be successful in doing the things we want to do is really, really impressive,” Fickell said.

Some highlights from Wednesday involving UW’s 2024 class:

Bolstering Wisconsin’s defensive line was critical and Ernest Willor Jr. should help

The Badgers saw ends Rodas Johnson and Darian Varner enter the transfer portal this week, with Johnson going on Monday and Varner on Wednesday.

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Johnson leaves with 22 starts, including 12 this season. Varner played in 10 games after transferring to UW from Temple.

In addition, Gio Paez is set to leave after the bowl game. Ditto for Isaiah Mullens. Paez has started six of 12 games this season. Mullens, who entered the season with 10 starts, suffered a knee injury in camp and has not played this season.

UW signed three players on Wednesday: tackle Dillan Johnson of Illinois, end Hank Weber of Tennessee and end Ernest Willor Jr. of Maryland.

The Badgers have offered several players in the transfer portal.

Willor, 6-3 and 255, chose UW over Maryland but had offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and others.

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“You see a guy that is just scratching the surface,” Fickell said of Willor. “I know he’s got a lot of talent and he is a highly ranked guy. But when you look at him, (he) is a guy that in another year-and-a-half or a year, I think will be completely different.

“What he provides when he walks in the door is going to be a little bit different than what we have. But what he could be in another year, year-and-a-half gives us a chance to go to the next level.”

More: Former UW wide receiver Chimere Dike will rejoin his former quarterback at Florida

Former Wisconsin lineman Casey Rabach beaming after the Badgers sign five of a kind

Five of the 22 players who signed Wednesday were offensive linemen.

That development pleased Casey Rabach, UW’s director of scouting.

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“I think the tradition here obviously sells itself,” Rabach said. “Coach talks about our brand nationwide. Obviously, the offensive line and the success we’ve had here year in and year out sells to that.

“And then I think you’ve got to show them how they fit. How do you envision (each) individual to carry on that legacy?”

Rabach is a perfect ambassador to talk about the history of UW’s offensive linemen. He was a standout center at UW from 1996-2000 and played 10 seasons in the NFL.

“That is one of the plusses I bring to this group,” he said. “The history that I have had at Wisconsin and the process that I went through – the recruiting cycle and through the college years and then onto the NFL…

“I think any time we can speak of personal experiences from the past, I think that pays huge dividends with how to help these kids through the process.”

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More: Chez Mellusi returning to Wisconsin Badgers for 2024 season

More: With Braelon Allen off to the NFL, Jackson Acker ready to carry a heavy load for UW

Did Badgers hit it big at running back?

Running backs Darrion Dupree, Dilin Jones and Gideon Ituka all signed Wednesday as the staff worked to build a foundation for the offensive backfield for 2024 and beyond.

“We knew from the jump that was a priority,” said Max Stienecker, director of player personnel. “That is the fortunate part of being at this place with the history and tradition here. At Wisconsin you’re going to bring in the best back in the country. So you’ve got an opportunity to recruit the best of the best.

“We did our due diligence and evaluated and we thought the three that we have are some of the best in the country.”

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Down to the wire for Xavier Lucas, Rob Booker

Cornerback Xavier Lucas, a cornerback from Fort Lauderdale, committed to UW in August. He recently took a visit to Miami but maintained his commitment and signed with UW on Wednesday.

Pat Lambert, UW’s director of recruiting, explained the staff’s final pitch to Lucas.

“You’ve just got to remind him of the relationship piece and not get cloudy about schools trying to push toward the end,” Lambert said. “Remind him why he chose this place in the first place, what’s really important to him.

“I think that helped us to get it done.”

Waunakee tight end Rob Booker committed to UW on Jan. 31, de-committed on June 21, committed to UCLA the next day but on Wednesday signed with UW.

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“I think he got pulled in different directions and had second thoughts,” Stienecker said. “And as the season progressed he began to understand: ‘I can accomplish everything in my backyard, right here at Wisconsin.’

“You want to play for a top-10 program, you want to play at a top-10 academic institution, you want to play in the No. 1 college town in America, you want to play for the best coach in America, you can do all those things right here.”



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Wisconsin

Central and northern Wisconsin are under an air quality advisory due to Canadian wildfire smoke

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6 hours ago

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May 13, 2024

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Central and northern Wisconsin are under an air quality advisory due to Canadian wildfire smoke


Central and northern Wisconsin are under an air quality advisory due to Canadian wildfire smoke, according to the National Weather Service in Sullivan.

In those portions of the state, people can see smoke in the sky, and in some areas, on ground level, said Mark Gehring, NWS meteorologist.

Visibilities are ranging from 4 to 7 miles in parts of west central and northern Wisconsin, as well as southern Minnesota, Gehring said.

“That’s from the smoke from the Canadian fires that flared back up now that spring has come,” he said. “And, those fires are kind of on the border of British Columbia and Alberta — the northern part of those provinces, so way up in northwest Canada.”

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“People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion,” the advisory said.

The smoke could cause breathing issues for sensitive groups, Gehring explained. He recommended that sensitive groups in the effected areas should stay indoors as much as possible with their windows closed and limit time outside.

“Even for healthy people, if the concentrations get severe, you could have some effects from it,” he said.

While the advisory — which began Sunday afternoon — is set to expire at 10 a.m., Gehring anticipates that another will be issued. The state’s Department of Natural Resources will make that call after reassessing the situation.

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With the smoke “really slowing down as it approaches southern Wisconsin,” Gehring didn’t expect it to reach the Milwaukee area Monday.

“Maybe a little bit tomorrow, but it may be just an upper atmosphere, too,” he said. “If it stays in the mid or upper levels of the atmosphere, then nobody’s effected by it. You’ll still see it in the sky, but it won’t effect ground level. That’s when there’s a bigger problem.”



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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Supreme Court considers expanding use of absentee ballot drop boxes

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13 hours ago

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May 13, 2024

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Wisconsin Supreme Court considers expanding use of absentee ballot drop boxes


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday in a case pushed by Democrats to overturn a ruling that all but eliminated the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the swing state.

The court’s ruling will come within three months of the Aug. 13 primary and within six months of the November presidential election. A reversal could have implications on what is expected to be another razor-thin presidential race in Wisconsin.

President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, four years after Trump narrowly took the state by a similar margin.

Since his defeat, Trump had claimed without evidence that drop boxes led to voter fraud. Democrats, election officials and some Republicans argued the boxes are secure.

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At issue is whether to overturn the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s July 2022 ruling that said nothing in state law allowed for absentee drop boxes to be placed anywhere other than in election clerk offices. Conservative justices controlled the court then, but the court flipped to liberal control last year, setting the stage to possibly overturn the ruling.

Changing the ruling now “threatens to politicize this Court and cast a pall over the election” and unleash a new wave of legal challenges, attorneys for the Republican National Committee and Wisconsin Republican Party argued in court filings.

There have been no changes in the facts or the law to warrant overturning the ruling and it’s too close to the election to make changes now anyway, they contend.

What to know about the 2024 Election

Democrats argue the court misinterpreted the law in its 2022 ruling by wrongly concluding that absentee ballots can only be returned to a clerk in their office and not to a drop box they control that is located elsewhere. Clerks should be allowed “to decide for themselves how and where to accept the return of absentee ballots,” attorneys argue in court filings.

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Priorities USA, a liberal voter mobilization group, and the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Voters asked the court to reconsider the 2022 ruling. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which administers elections, support overturning it.

Attorneys for the groups that brought the challenge say in court filings that drop boxes became controversial only “when those determined to cast doubt on election results that did not favor their preferred candidates and causes made them a political punching bag.”

Election officials from four counties, including the two largest and most heavily Democratic in the state, filed a brief in support of overturning the ruling. They argue absentee ballot drop boxes have been used for decades without incident as a secure way for voters to return their ballots.

More than 1,600 absentee ballots arrived at clerks’ offices after Election Day in 2022, when drop boxes were not in use, and therefore were not counted, Democratic attorneys noted in their arguments. But in 2020, when drop boxes were in use and nearly three times as many people voted absentee, only 689 ballots arrived after the election.

Drop boxes were used in 39 other states during the 2022 election, according to the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project.

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The popularity of absentee voting exploded during the pandemic in 2020, with more than 40% of all voters in Wisconsin casting mail ballots, a record high. More than 500 drop boxes were set up in more than 430 communities for the election that year, including more than a dozen each in Madison and Milwaukee, the state’s two most heavily Democratic cities.





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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Civics Games State Finals

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21 hours ago

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May 12, 2024

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Wisconsin Civics Games State Finals


May 12, 2024 | 4:00 PM

State News

A $2,000 scholarship is on the line for the students across Wisconsin attending the 2024 Wisconsin Civics Games state final competition.

The $2,000 scholarship is for any Wisconsin college or university of the winner’s choice, and the competition is on May 10th at the Capitol in Madison.

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The competition started out with 45 teams and the final 18 teams from high schools across the state will all be competing in Madison.

The competition started in early April with virtual questions on the topics of state budgets, local elections, legislative term limits, quorums, and more.

Anyone is welcome to watch the 18 final teams compete beginning at 9:00 a.m. with welcoming remarks in Room 411 South, then followed by the Games which can also be viewed online on WisconsinEye.

The competition is expected to conclude by around 3:30 p.m.

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