Tag: john pius

Three Wisconsin Badgers land on The Athletic’s top 100 transfers list

Three Wisconsin Badgers land on The Athletic’s top 100 transfers list

The Wisconsin football team added a ton of talent in the transfer portal following the 2023 season and The Athletic included three Badgers players in their top 100 transfers.

Linebacker John Pius came in as the highest-ranked Wisconsin addition, coming in as the No. 29 overall transfer. Pius transferred to Madison in the offseason after three seasons at William & Mary, most recently recording 53 total tackles, including 9.0 sacks, during the 2023 campaign. Wisconsin struggled to get to the opposing quarterback last year and Pius will look to help change that in 2024.

The next Badger to appear on the list is quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who was announced as the team’s starter last week. Van Dyke was listed as the No. 35 overall transfer, joining Wisconsin after compiling 7,469 passing yards and 54 touchdowns over three seasons as the starter with Miami.

Finally, right behind Van Dyke, interior linebacker Jaheim Thomas was listed as the No. 36 overall transfer. Thomas spent the first three years of his collegiate career under head coach Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, before registering 90 total tackles, including 6.5 sacks, with Arkansas in 2023. Now reunited with Fickell and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel in Madison, Thomas will attempt to take another step up with the Badgers.

13 Wisconsin Badgers crack 2025 Senior Bowl watch list

13 Wisconsin Badgers crack 2025 Senior Bowl watch list

13 Wisconsin Badgers cracked the 2025 Senior Bowl watch list on Wednesday.

The 12th annual list includes 859 prospects from 180 programs across the country. The number usually dwindles to 110 players at the annual Feb. 1 contest in Mobile, Alabama, the home of the University of South Alabama.

On the offensive side, Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, wide receiver Will Pauling and running Chez Mellusi made the cut. Offensive linemen Jack Nelson, Joe Huber, Riley Mahlhan and Jake Renfro also represent UW’s offensive line on the list.

Defensively, linebacker Jaheim Thomas, outside linebacker John Pius, defensive lineman James Thompson Jr., defensive back RJ Delancy III, safety Hunter Wohler and cornerback Ricardo Hallman were listed as well.

Historically, the game format rosters its participants regionally into North and South teams. Since 2021, the bowl moved to American and National team designations with coaching staffs typically handpicked from two lower-ranked NFL teams.

Serving as somewhat of a post-season college football all-star bout, the Senior Bowl aims to showcase NFL Draft prospects who have finalized their college eligibility. NFL Network will broadcast the battle this winter.

Report: Wisconsin football to again host fall camp at UW-Platteville

Report: Wisconsin football to again host fall camp at UW-Platteville

The Wisconsin Badgers football program will again host its fall training camp at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville this year. It is part of a three-year deal between the two schools, according to a report from NBC 15’s Mike Jacques.

Luke Fickell and his Wisconsin squad will travel west to launch their fall camp in Platteville in early August, with an open practice scheduled for Saturday, August 10. The Badgers held their fall camp at the Pioneers’ facilities in 2023 and will now do so for at least a few more years.

Wisconsin is entering the second season with Luke Fickell and his staff in charge in Madison and they will look to build off of a 7-6 campaign from 2023.

Many expected the Badgers to simply just hit the ground running and elevate to the upper echelon of collegiate programs once Fickell arrived, but things take time and Wisconsin added a ton of reinforcements in the transfer portal this offseason, including linebackers Leon Lowery (Syracuse), Jaheim Thomas (Arkansas) and John Pius (William & Mary).

Multiple Wisconsin Badgers make PFF’s returning Big Ten edge rusher ranking

Multiple Wisconsin Badgers make PFF’s Big Ten edge-rusher ranking

Wisconsin linebackers/edge-rushers John Pius and Darryl Peterson received top-five rankings in ProFootballFocus’ recent list of the highest-graded returning Big Ten edge rushers.

Pius was No. 2 overall with a PFF grade of 85.1 last season at William & Mary. Peterson, meanwhile, was No. 5 with a grade of 80.7 with the Badgers Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer, Michigan’s Josiah Stewart and Maryland’s Donnell Brown were ranked No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

Pius was a significant piece of Wisconsin’s 2024 transfer portal class. The 6-foot-4, 244-pound edge departed William & Mary ranked second in program history in career tackles for loss (40.5) and fifth in career sacks (24.5).

The Arlington, Virginia native was also the only FCS player on the Butkus Award Watch List, earned an All-America First Team bid and wound up on the Senior Bowl Watch List. 247Sports had Pius as a four-star transfer recruit and the No. 16 edge rusher in the portal this winter.

Peterson, on the other hand, has suited up for UW from 2021-2023. Over the past two seasons, the Akron, Ohio product logged 13 starts in 26 overall appearances at OLB.

 

The 2023 Academic All-Big Ten team member led the Badgers with 4.5 sacks and posted a career-best 47 tackles for UW as a redshirt junior.

Wisconsin’s defensive unit enters 2024 with a preseason SP+ Rating of 13.8, the seventh-highest in the nation. With four new squads slated to join the conference this fall, UW’s defensive front will need to perform at a high clip.

Wisconsin has commitments from three of the top five transfer portal linebackers

Wisconsin has commitments from three of the top five transfer portal linebackers

Wisconsin and Luke Fickell have attacked the transfer portal this offseason, now with 13 total commitments and the No. 13-ranked transfer class in the country.

One clear area of need was linebacker. Starters Jordan Turner and Maema Njongmeta entered the portal and declared for the NFL draft respectively, plus several outside linebackers either switched positions or left the program.

As a result, the Badgers have commitments from six linebackers in the transfer class: former Arkansas LB Jaheim Thomas, former USC LB Tackett Curtis, former UNI LB Jahsiah Galvin, former UNC LB Sebastian Cheeks, former William & Mary OLB John Pius and former Syracuse OLB Leon Lowery.

The three highest-rated by On3 are Pius at 91.69, Curtis at 91.59 and Thomas at 91.54. They are three of the top five linebackers in the portal, behind only former Georgia ILB Jamon Dumas-Johnson and former Arkansas LB Chris Paul Jr.

Wisconsin needs a lot to turn around in 2024 for the year to turn out differently than 2023 did. A successful portal class is the first step, and it looks like Fickell and his staff have addressed the team’s needs effectively.

Badgers nearing top 10 overall transfer class

Badgers have one of the best transfer classes in the country

The Badgers added two players in the transfer portal Tuesday as both linebacker Tackett Curtis (USC) and defensive lineman Elijah Hills (University at Albany) committed to the team ahead of the 2024 campaign.

According to 247Sports’ ranking system, Wisconsin’s 2023 transfer class now ranks 11th nationally, with more time to go. Luke Fickell’s squad has added many defensive players, including six linebackers, through the transfer portal now.

The Badgers finished their 2023 season 7-6, losing to LSU 35-31 in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1. They will be undergoing some major changes in 2023, including assigning a new quarterback, lead running back and both starting interior linebackers.

All 13 of the team’s transfer additions so far can be found here.

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BREAKING: Wisconsin lands a former All-American linebacker

BREAKING: Wisconsin lands a former All-American linebacker

Wisconsin landed a commitment from FCS First-Team All-American linebacker John Pius earlier today.

Pius starred for three years at William and Mary. His 2022 and 2023 campaigns included a whopping 172 tackles, 35 tackles for loss and 21 sacks, First-Team All-Conference honors in each season and the aforementioned All-American honor for 2023.

Wisconsin landed Pius over schools including Virginia, Cincinnati and Connecticut. He is set to join an outside linebacker room headlined by Darryl Peterson, Jeff Pietrowski, T.J. Bollers, Kaden Johnson and recent transfer Leon Lowery.

He is the third portal addition of the offseason thus far for Luke Fickell and his staff. And with reported interest out there in several quarterbacks, do not expect this to be the last transfer portal-related headline.