Tag: Luke Fickell

Badgers offer four-star wide receiver for class of 2024

Wisconsin offered Jaylan Hornsby, a class of 2024 four-star wide receiver from New Jersey on Thursday.

Wisconsin offered Jaylan Hornsby, a four-star wide receiver from Camden, New Jersey on Thursday. The 6-foot-3, 195 pound athlete is a junior at Camden High School and still has one more season before potentially joining a collegiate program as a member of their class of 2024.

Hornsby has received 12 Division 1 offers now, with the Badgers becoming the sixth program within the Big Ten to offer him. With head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Phil Longo at the helm now, Wisconsin has increased their push to acquire wide receivers this offseason, reeling in four athletes at the position via the transfer portal.

With class of 2024 four-star quarterback Mabrey Mettauer (The Woodlands, Texas) already committed to Wisconsin, the addition of Hornsby would give him a potential top target during his tenure with the Badgers.

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Linebacker from class of 2025 gets offer from Wisconsin

Anthony Sacca, a class of 2025 four-star linebacker from Philadelphia received an offer to play football for the Badgers on Friday.

Anthony Sacca, a four-star linebacker from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania received an offer from the Badgers on Friday. The 6-foot-4, 220 pound athlete has experience playing safety as well and still has two more years to round into form with St. Joseph’s Prep School before making the leap to collegiate football.

To this point, Sacca has received 17 offers from Division 1 programs and both Penn State and Michigan are amongst the Big Ten teams with ties to the athlete. For Wisconsin, the sophomore is one of many players the team has offered for 2025, including four-star wide receiver Dorian Brew.

The Badgers’ head coach Luke Fickell has been aggressive in his approach to acquiring talent since joining the program in November and Sacca could be a piece for new defensive coordinator Mike Tressel in 2025.

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Wisconsin offers four-star edge rusher from Illinois

The Badgers offered Marquise Lightfoot, a three-star edge rusher from Chicago on Thursday.

Wisconsin offered Marquise Lightfoot, a 6-foot-5, 215 pound edge rusher from Chicago, Illinois on Thursday. Lightfoot is a four-star athlete from the class of 2024 and still has one more year of high school football at Kenwood Academy before potentially joining the collegiate level.

The Badgers were the 33rd team to offer the talented junior, joining multiple Big Ten schools including Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska.

To this point, Wisconsin has secured two commitments for the class of 2024, already adding cornerback Austin Alexander (Chicago Heights, Illinois) and four-star quarterback Mabrey Mattauer (The Woodlands, Texas). In addition to Alexander and Lightfoot, the Badgers also offered three-star athlete Tysean Griffin from Chicago on Thursday, showing a commitment to recruiting in the Windy City under new head coach Luke Fickell.

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Badgers offer three-star athlete from Chicago

Wisconsin offered Tysean Griffin, a three-star athlete from Chicago on Thursday.

The Badgers offered Tysean Griffin, a three-star athlete from Chicago, Illinois on Thursday. The 5-foot-11 Griffin has experience on both sides of the ball, operating as a running back, wide receiver and cornerback for Morgan Park, High School.

Griffin would be a member of the class of 2024 and therefore has one more year before he’d join a collegiate program. He has already received multiple offers from other schools outside of Wisconsin, including one from Cincinnati, new Badger head coach Luke Fickell’s former team.

So far, Wisconsin has earned two commitments for the class of 2024, four-star quarterback Mabrey Mettauer (The Woodlands, Texas) and cornerback Austin Alexander (Chicago Heights, Illinois).

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Chad Bowden is Notre Dame’s New Defensive Director of Recruiting

Notre Dame found itself a nice asset when Marcus Freeman left Cincinnati to become the Irish’s new defensive coordinator.

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Notre Dame found itself a nice asset when Marcus Freeman left Cincinnati to become the Irish’s new defensive coordinator. It turns out the Bearcats, from whom Brian Kelly joined the Irish, are not finished losing personnel to South Bend. Chad Bowden has been the Bearcats’ director of recruiting. Not anymore:

This move represents a shift in Bowden’s thinking. He recently told the Cincinnati Enquirer he was pleased with where he was at and who he was working for (Bearcats coach Luke Fickell). Now, he’s decided a change of scenery is in order. It makes the storyline for when these teams meet Oct. 2 at Notre Dame Stadium all the more intriguing.

Cincinnati also has lost associate head coach and running backs coach Dan Enos to Maryland, where he will be the offensive coordinator. All of this turnover on the coaching staff already has resulted in two de-commitments from the Bearcats. To say this has been a tumultuous month for that program would be an understatement. Alas, there’s no choice but to press on because college football stops for nobody, especially at the highest level.

Report: Badgers hiring new special teams coordinator

Wisconsin is hiring another coach Sunday, bringing in Mike Mitchell to lead their special teams unit and outside linebackers in 2023.

The Badgers are hiring Grand Valley State head coach Matt Mitchell as their next special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. Mitchell has produced a 117-31 overall record as the head coach of the Lakers, finishing just one win short the program’s all-time leader Brian Kelly (118 wins).

Mitchell played collegiate football at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, earning First-Team All-Midwest honors twice during his career with the program as a defensive lineman. He graduated from the college in 1997 and quickly launched a coaching career a few years later.

The former player started as a defensive coach with Wartburg College in 2000 before joining the Grand Valley State coaching staff in 2003. Over nearly two decades with the team, Mitchell worked his way from linebackers coach (2004-2007) to defensive coordinator (2008-2009) before spending a dozen seasons as the head coach of the Lakers (2010-2022).

Mitchell will be reuniting with Wisconsin’s new defensive coordinator Mike Tressel, who he coached alongside with at Wartburg in the early 2000’s.

Luke Fickell and the Badgers’ program will certainly benefit from bringing in such an experienced coach to lead their specials teams unit and outside linebackers in 2023.

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Badgers add transfer WR Bryson Green

Transfer wide receiver Bryson Green committed to Wisconsin on Friday after spending two seasons with Oklahoma State.

The Badgers added another wide receiver in the transfer portal Friday, acquiring former Oklahoma State Cowboy pass-catcher Bryson Green. Green appeared in 11 games with Oklahoma State in 2022, reeling in 36 catches for 584 yards and five touchdowns.

Green opted to sit out the Guaranteed Rate Bowl game versus the Badgers on December 27, but he will now join the ever-expanding Wisconsin roster heading into the 2023 campaign. The wide receiver will become the fourth player at his position to transfer to the Badgers following the 2022 season, joining CJ Williams (USC), Will Pauling (Cincinnati) and Quincy Burroughs (Cincinnati).

Wisconsin has now added 14 athletes via the transfer portal this offseason as head coach Luke Fickell and his new coaching staff usher in a new era in Badger football.

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Which first-year head coach has best opportunity to mimic TCU?

Just hear me out, these five coaches could capture lighting in a bottle for the 2023 season.

Everyone wants to know who the next best thing is in college football. To everyone’s surprise, it was the TCU Horned Frogs last season. Time and time again they defied the odds with their epic comebacks until the final game, there was no comeback this time.

Still, TCU achieved something that the Big 12 and Oklahoma failed to do in three opportunities, make the CFP championship game. It was even more remarkable that first-year head coach Sonny Dykes did this with Gary Patterson’s players that finished 5-7 the previous year.

Could there be another “Sonny Dykes” moment in 2023? If so, which first-year head coach could be the one to get it done? There was no shortage of candidates across the college football landscape. From Luke Fickell to Trent Dilfer, the coaching carousel was getting almost as much action as the transfer portal.

After thinking it over, I broke down my five candidates who could do it. While achieving what TCU did in 2022 isn’t probable, it certainly is possible.

Notre Dame misses out on 2023 Illinois wide receiver who elects to stay home

The Irish hat was left on the table

The Irish had their hat on the table for Illinois wide receiver [autotag]Malik Elzy[/autotag] at the [autotag]All-American Bowl[/autotag] but it really didn’t seem like [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] was a contender. Having know Elzy since his freshman year, I knew he was going to be a big-time threat.

At one point, Elzy was committed to [autotag]Cincinatti[/autotag], but when [autotag]Luke Fickell[/autotag] left to take the [autotag]Wisconsin[/autotag] job, the six-foot-two-inch and 205-pound receiver opened things up again. During the All-American game, Elzy made his decision, selecting Illinois and staying close to home.

This really doesn’t hurt the Irish, as they signed [autotag]Braylon James[/autotag], [autotag]Jaden Greathouse[/autotag], [autotag]Rico Flores[/autotag], and [autotag]Kaleb Smith[/autotag]. [autotag]Brandyn Hillman[/autotag] could end up playing the position as well.

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