Recapping Wisconsin’s latest moves on the recruiting trail

Looking to add to its 2021 recruiting class, Wisconsin extended scholarship offers to a trio of prospects near the end of November.

Looking to add to its 2021 recruiting class, Wisconsin extended scholarship offers to a trio of prospects near the end of November in the days leading up to the matchup with Purdue in Madison.

The first recruit to take to Twitter and announce his offer from the Badgers was strong-side defensive end Cade Denhoff out of Lakeland, Fla.

According to the 247Sports composite, Denhoff is a 4-star prospect and ranks as the nation’s No. 136 overall player. As you might expect, the 6-4, 225-pound defensive end has already compiled a pretty impressive list of suitors.

In fact, if you name one of the “blue blood” programs in college football, odds are Denhoff holds an offer from it: Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, and Notre Dame are all involved in this recruitment, as are Nebraska, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Iowa State, Louisville, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Carolina, UCF, Vanderbilt and West Virginia, among others.

Given the incredibly stiff competition and how late Wisconsin is to the party here, Badger fans probably shouldn’t get their hopes up that Bucky will emerge as a major player for Denhoff. Of the three players mentioned in this piece, he’s probably the least likely to end up in Madison.

A guy the Badgers could have a slightly better shot at is Ewa Beach, Hawaii wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, who made his Wisconsin offer public the day after Denhoff.

247Sports ranks Mokiao-Atimalala as a 3-star prospect and the No. 388 overall player in the country. The 6-0, 165-pound wideout’s recruitment is much smaller than Denhoff’s at the moment, there are a few heavy hitters that are involved. Michigan, Nebraska and Notre Dame have all extended offers, as have California, Hawaii, Oregon State and Utah.

It’s possible that Wisconsin could become a top contender for Mokiao-Atimalala, but it will likely be a tall task. The Badgers have only landed three players out of Hawaii in the online rankings era: safety James Kamoku in the class of 2003, offensive lineman Micah Kapoi in 2014 and, most recently, linebacker Nick Herbig in the class of 2020. Additionally, it’s worth noting that Mokiao-Atimalala has family ties to two of Wisconsin’s competitors for his services, as his brother is committed to Hawaii in 2020 and his cousin is currently a sophomore on the Oregon State roster.

That being said, perhaps defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield, a Hawaii native and the lead recruiter for both Herbig and Mokiao-Atimalala, can work his magic for the second recruiting cycle in a row and deliver a player from the Aloha State to Wisconsin.

The latest player in the class of 2021 to announce an offer from the Badgers is Los Lunas, N.M. defensive end Tyler Kiehne.

 

Though it is still pretty early in the 2021 recruiting cycle and his recruitment will surely expand as we move forward, at the moment, Kiehne is probably the most obtainable prospect for Wisconsin of the three mentioned here. The Badgers are among the first programs to get their foot in the door in this one, and are by far the best offer on the table at this point, at least in terms of program prestige: his only schools who have officially thrown their hats in the ring are New Mexico, Toledo and Washington State.

However, as far as I can tell, Wisconsin has never landed a recruit from New Mexico in the online rankings era. In fact, dating back to 2001, it appears as though the Badgers haven’t even offered a player from the state until Kiehne, so the 6-3, 255-pounder would be a pioneer in this regard if he ultimately settles on Wisconsin.

247Sports ranks Kiehne has a 3-star prospect and the No. 762 overall player nationally.

The Badgers currently have five players committed in the 2021 class: 4-star offensive tackles JP Benzschawel (Grafton, Wis.) and Riley Mahlman (Lakeville, Minn.), 3-star running backs Jackson Acker (Verona, Wis.) and Loyal Crawford (Eau Claire, Wis.) and 3-star quarterback Deacon Hill (Santa Barbara, Calif.)