The lifeblood of any successful college football program is strong recruiting. For Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin tenure, it is the thing many point to while discussing why he will bring the Badgers back to prominence.
The early results are impossible to argue with. Fickell finished the 2024 cycle with a top-25 class and the program’s first-ever Blue-Chip Ratio of 50%. He has since followed that up with a strong class of 2025 that currently sits ranked No. 26 in the nation.
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Those results are already paying dividends for the program on the field.
Wisconsin’s newly-released two-deep depth chart for Week 1 includes two true freshmen: backup RT Kevin Heywood and backup cornerback Xavier Lucas. Those two impressively won backup jobs after excelling from the moment they arrived on campus this summer.
Heywood was the highest-ranked member of the class, slotted as 247Sports’ No. 50 player in the class and No. 4 offensive tackle.
Lucas, meanwhile, was an under-the-radar addition. Fickell and his staff beat a host of top SEC programs to land his commitment. While 247Sports only ranked Lucas as the No. 372 player in the class and No. 35 safety, he’s already looking like a rising star at the position.
Both Heywood and Lucas will play significant roles for the team in 2024, and should only improve as the years progress.
Those two making the two-deep depth chart doesn’t even include breakout running back Darrion Dupree (four-star, No. 392 player in class, No. 29 running back) and outside linebacker Thomas Heiberger (four-star, No. 463 player in class, No. 40 linebacker).
Many expect Dupree to earn snaps and touches as the season progresses. He and Lucas dominated nearly every headline during training camp practices.
Heiberger, finally, was in line to win snaps at outside linebacker before a knee injury halted his progress. But like the rest of these true freshmen listed, he was already making an impact from the moment he arrived on campus.
It’s rare that a freshmen class already has 4-5 legitimate contributors from the minute the first season kicks off. That’s what Wisconsin’s class of 2024 currently has. Its impact should only grow as the seasons progress.
The Badgers’ 2024 season will not be defined by the play of these newcomers. But when forecasting the future under Fickell, their respective emergences will make it look much brighter.
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