Tag: Ranking

Where Wisconsin basketball’s class of 2025 ranks after Will Garlock commitment

Where Wisconsin basketball’s class of 2025 ranks after Will Garlock commitment

Wisconsin basketball landed a commitment from three-star class of 2025 in-state center Will Garlock on Saturday.

Garlock is the program’s second commitment in the class, joining three-star shooting guard Zach Kinziger. His commitment moves the Badgers’ group up to No. 5 overall in 247Sports’ national rankings.

Related: Ranking the highest rated recruits in the history of Wisconsin football

Wisconsin is one of only a few programs with more than one commitment in the class. Providence is ranked No. 1 with two commits (one four-star, one five-star), South Carolina is No. 2 with three commits (one four-star), Georgia Tech is No. 2 with two commits (one four-star) and Iowa State is No. 4 with two commits (one four-star). Wisconsin, then, is at No. 5 with two three-star players committed.

Things will change as the efforts in the class of 2025 continue. But Wisconsin has established a solid foundation at this early stage in the cycle.

The commitment from Garlock figures to conclude what has been an eventful offseason for Greg Gard and his coaching staff. They saw top contributors Tyler Wahl (graduation), A.J. Storr (transfer portal) and Chucky Hepburn (transfer portal) all depart after the 2023-24 season. Then the Badgers responded by landing transfers PG Camren Hunter, G John Tonje and F Xavier Amos, and now Garlock.

The class of 2025 will not join the program until the 2025-26 basketball season. The Badgers just welcomed their class of 2024 onto campus, a group led by top point guard Daniel Freitag.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

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Wisconsin’s top class of 2025 RB target is on campus for official visit

It’s a big weekend for Luke Fickell and his staff:

Wisconsin top class of 2025 running back target Byron Louis is on campus for his official visit this weekend.

The four-star running back has the Badgers’ in his top 10 schools along with Miami, Penn State, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Tennessee, USC, Florida State and Oklahoma. 247Sports notes that he has three official visits scheduled: May 31 to Miami, this weekend to Wisconsin and June 21 to Florida State.

Related: Wisconsin football updated class of 2025 entering June 7 official visit weekend

Louis is 247Sports’ No. 212 player in the class of 2025, No. 14 running back and No. 30 recruit from his home state of Florida. He is one of only two running backs with an official visit scheduled to Wisconsin, along with three-star John Forster.

The Badgers’ class of 2025 currently ranks No. 15 in the nation with 14 players committed. The group is yet to land a running back — that after finishing the 2024 cycle with several top commits at the position.

Louis is part of a busy weekend of official visits for the Badgers. He is one of the top targets in the group, some others being iOL Hardy Watts, WR Eugene Hilton Jr. and DL Wilnerson Telemaque.

Wisconsin is off to a hot start to a busy month of June, already with commitments from four-star OT Logan Powell, three-star CB Rukeem Stroud and three-star OT Nolan Davenport after the first official weekend.

That momentum is expected to continue after the weekend of June 7.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

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Dennis Allen ranked 32nd among NFL’s 32 head coaches

Dennis Allen was ranked 32nd among the NFL’s 32 head coaches. New hires are unknown quantities, but Touchdown Wire argues we know what DA is:

Yikes. Dennis Allen has a lot to prove in 2024, but some observers (and some New Orleans Saints fans) are already prepared for the coach to go. Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey ranked Allen 32nd among the NFL’s 32 head coaches, arguing that while new hires are unknown quantities, we’ve seen enough to know Allen isn’t the right man for the job.

Here’s why Bailey ranked Allen last among his peers:

Dennis Allen is the head coaching version of sitting on a whoopie cushion. The Saints have been dreadfully boring with no sense of direction ever since Sean Payton stepped away. They are 16-18 over their last two seasons and find themselves in quarterback purgatory as Derek Carr is clearly not the future. The Saints’ best option would be to finally blow everything up and begin to rebuild in 2025. It would be three years after they should have done it, but better late than never.

It’s tough to argue with that evaluation. The Saints have given Allen everything he’s asked for — his own play caller and position coaches, his $150 million quarterback, and his own draft picks and free agent signings — and he doesn’t have anything to show for it. Their playoff drought has extended under his watch, and at times visiting fans outnumbered the Who Dat Nation along the sidelines last season.

When Allen was introduced as the team’s head coach, general manager Mickey Loomis talked him up as someone who could field a competitive team. That hasn’t been the case, and Loomis has since moved the goalposts to defend his decision to hire Allen in the first place.

If there’s reason for hope in 2024, it’s that Allen has maintained a consistent defense (even if some cracks are showing on passing downs and in matchups with teams determined to run the football). That should buy them enough time for Klint Kubiak’s offense to get off the ground. Now, whether it takes off for the horizon or crashes back down to Earth is yet to be determined. And that’s going to decide whether or not Allen returns for 2025. At this point we need to see it to believe it.

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Wisconsin omitted from PFF’s ranking of college football’s top wide receiver corps for 2024

PFF is not high on the Badgers wide receiver corps in 2024:

The Wisconsin Badgers were left out of ProFootballFocus’ recent ranking of college football’s top wide receiver corps entering the 2024 season.

The list comprised of Oregon, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Miami, Colorado, LSU and Oklahoma.

Related: Where every Big Ten team ranks in ESPN’s 2024 College Football Power Index

The end-of-season rankings may reconsider the omission of the Badgers.

Luke Fickell’s program enters the season with one of the more exciting wide receiver corps in the country, led by rising star Will Pauling, established veteran Bryson Green and a host of promising underclassmen.

The returning production from 2023 does not tell the entire story. Pauling led the team in receptions with 74 and receiving yards with 837, but he was followed by Chimere Dike and Skyler Bell — both players who entered the transfer portal at the conclusion of the season.

That means the 2024 outlook includes a top-of-the-line talent in Pauling, an under-the-radar NFL prospect in Green and numerous snaps to go around to C.J. Williams, Joseph Griffin (transfer), Tyrell Henry (transfer), Quincy Burroughs, Trech Kekahuna and others.

There is no debating the top-end talent on Oregon, Ole Miss, Ohio State and Texas’ rosters. But the Badgers could rival those teams’ passing game production if all clicks in year two under offensive coordinator Phil Longo.

This is an article worth bookmarking for a post-2024 season revisit. I’d pick the Badgers to surprise many and enter the next edition of these rankings.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

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Wisconsin class of 2025 official visits for weekend of June 7

Wisconsin class of 2025 official visits for weekend of June 7

    • Four-star RB Byron Louis (No. 211 player in class of 2025, No. 15 RB, No. 29 recruit from Florida)
    • Four-star iOL Hardy Watts (No. 227 player in class of 2025, No. 12 iOL, No. 1 recruit from Massachusetts)
    • Four-star WR Eugene Hilton Jr. (No. 358 player in class of 2025, No. 57 wide receiver, No. 7 recruit from Indiana)
    • Four-star S Remington Moss (No. 392 player in class of 2025, No. 33 safety, No. 10 recruit from Virginia) — COMMITTED
    • Three-star DL Wilnerson Telemaque (No. 689 player in class of 2025, No. 71 DL, No. 93 recruit from Florida)
    • Three-star S Grant Dean (No. 730 player in class of 2025, No. 51 Athlete, No. 6 recruit from Wisconsin) — COMMITTED
    • Three-star TE Jayden Savoury (No. 824 player in class of 2025, No. 40 TE, No. 16 recruit from Michigan)
    • Three-star Edge Nicolas Clayton (No. 897 player in class of 2025, No. 80 cornerback, No. 27 recruit from Illinois)
    • Three-star CB Jahmare Washington (No. 916 player in class of 2025, No. 51 Athlete, No. 6 recruit from Wisconsin) 
    • Three-star WR Vernon Allen (No. 923 player in class of 2025, No. 146 WR, No. 23 recruit from Maryland) — committed to Rutgers
    • Three-star CB Jojo Scott (No. 120 CB, No. 184 recruit from Florida)

    Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

    Wisconsin football enters the second weekend of June with fantastic momentum on the class of 2025 recruiting trail.

    The program landed commitments from four-star OT Logan Powell and three-star CB Rukeem Stroud on the heels of the first official visit weekend. It appears to not be finished adding, as the Badgers were also predicted to land top LB Mason Posa and WR Muizz Tounkara.

    Related: Big Ten football class of 2025 recruiting rankings entering June

    The program’s class of 2025 currently ranks No. 15 in the nation with 13 commitments. It is early in the cycle, but Luke Fickell and his staff are off to a promising start. More work is left, however, until the group matches the Badgers’ 2024 class that saw a top-25 finish and a blue-chip ratio of 50%.

    That work will continue during the upcoming official visit weekends. As June continues, here are Wisconsin’s scheduled visits for the weekend of June 7 (per 247Sports):

    • Four-star RB Byron Louis (No. 211 player in class of 2025, No. 15 RB, No. 29 recruit from Florida)
    • Four-star iOL Hardy Watts (No. 227 player in class of 2025, No. 12 iOL, No. 1 recruit from Massachusetts)
    • Four-star WR Eugene Hilton Jr. (No. 358 player in class of 2025, No. 57 wide receiver, No. 7 recruit from Indiana)
    • Four-star S Remington Moss (No. 392 player in class of 2025, No. 33 safety, No. 10 recruit from Virginia) — COMMITTED
    • Three-star DL Wilnerson Telemaque (No. 689 player in class of 2025, No. 71 DL, No. 93 recruit from Florida)
    • Three-star S Grant Dean (No. 730 player in class of 2025, No. 51 Athlete, No. 6 recruit from Wisconsin) — COMMITTED
    • Three-star TE Jayden Savoury (No. 824 player in class of 2025, No. 40 TE, No. 16 recruit from Michigan)
    • Three-star Edge Nicolas Clayton (No. 897 player in class of 2025, No. 80 cornerback, No. 27 recruit from Illinois)
    • Three-star CB Jahmare Washington (No. 916 player in class of 2025, No. 51 Athlete, No. 6 recruit from Wisconsin) 
    • Three-star WR Vernon Allen (No. 923 player in class of 2025, No. 146 WR, No. 23 recruit from Maryland) — committed to Rutgers
    • Three-star CB Jojo Scott (No. 120 CB, No. 184 recruit from Florida)

    Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

    Where is Alabama football ranked in ESPN’s Football Power index?

    Alabama football’s ranking according to ESPN’s Football Power Index may surprise fans. Do you think they are too low or too high?

    The 2024 season for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team will be an interesting one. Not only is legendary head coach Nick Saban replaced by former Washington Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer, the SEC welcomes in two new teams and the College Football Playoffs expand to a 12-team format.

    With such substantial changes, many wonder whether the Crimson Tide can pick up where it left off last season. Despite not being considered a national title contender for most of the season, Alabama won the SEC Championship over the Georgia Bulldogs and snuck into the CFP, where the eventual national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, got the win in the Rose Bowl.

    Where will the Crimson Tide rank to begin the season? We aren’t too sure yet. However, many have tried to predict where Alabama will rank in the preseason Top 25. ESPN, however, has ranked every FBS team based on an algorithm that removes the human aspect of it all. Because of this, some argue it’s more reliable.

    The ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) has Georgia ranked as the top team in the nation for the 2024 season, with a rating of 26.8, which is the highest of any team and is 2.3 points higher than the second-highest ranked team, the Oregon Ducks.

    Though there are many unknowns about the 2024 Alabama football team, the FPI ranks the Crimson Tide at No. 5 with a rating of 21.9.

    The regular season is rapidly approaching, which means the clock is ticking on DeBoer and his coaching staff to put together a team that will contend to win it all, which has become the standard in Tuscaloosa.

    Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news as the 2024 offseason progresses.

    Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

    Wisconsin receives low ranking from ESPN FPI entering 2024 season

    Wisconsin receives low ranking by ESPN FPI entering 2024 season

    The Wisconsin Badgers sit at No. 39 in ESPN’s newly-released 2024 Football Power Index ranking.

    The metric projects the team’s record at 5.8-6.2 and gives it a 57.4% chance to make a bowl game, a 3.1% chance to make the College Football Playoff and a 0.5% chance to win the Big Ten.

    Related: Anonymous Big Ten coaches weigh in on Wisconsin football in 2024

    The Badgers are FPI’s eighth-highest-ranked Big Ten team, behind Oregon at No. 2 overall, Ohio State at No. 4, Penn State at No. 6, Michigan at No. 12, USC at No. 18, Washington at No. 31 and Iowa at No. 37.

    Wisconsin enters the season with high expectations despite preparing to face a gauntlet schedule. Head coach Luke Fickell re-made his defensive lineup in the transfer portal, while OC Phil Longo’s offense is expected to reach its stride in year two. It’s hard seeing the team miss a bowl game if the latter takes a big step forward.

    Related: Where every Big Ten team ranks in ESPN’s 2024 College FPI rating

    ESPN FPI is the lowest on Wisconsin of any metric. ESPN SP+, notably, has the Badgers ranked No. 27 in the nation.

    Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

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    Chris Olave hasn’t gotten enough credit in PFF’s wide receiver rankings

    Chris Olave wasn’t given enough credit in the wide receiver rankings at Pro Football Focus. The young Saints standout is badly underrated:

    How is Chris Olave still underrated? The New Orleans Saints wide receiver roared into the NFL with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, but he’s having trouble getting respect even from those in the know at Pro Football Focus.

    PFF’s Sam Monson shared his rankings for the top 32 receivers going into 2024, and they’re a mess. It’s bad enough that Olave was ranked behind players who haven’t even run a route in the NFL, with rookies like Malik Nabers (No. 25) and Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 21) both ahead of him. But Olave is also ranked behind wideouts who have been in the league as long as him without achieving as much as he has, like Drake London and Garrett Wilson.

    London is still searching for his first 1,000-yard season when Olave is already well over 2,000 yards in his career. He’s played in three fewer games than Wilson and caught 19 fewer passes but gained more yards and scored more touchdowns. The Offensive Rookie of the Year voters got it wrong in recognizing Wilson over Olave for that award in 2022, and we’re still mad about it.

    Monson ranked Olave all the way down at No. 27 out of the game’s 32 best receivers, but he did have some nice things to say about him:

    A smooth mover, Chris Olave averaged 2.07 yards per route run last season and has 49 explosive plays over his first two seasons in the league. With Derek Carr playing well down the stretch, Olave could have a big year in 2024.

    Hopefully Klint Kubiak’s offense and a more-confident Carr lead to even greater heights for Olave in 2024. But he should already be seen as a top-20 player at his position. Just 15 players around the NFL have converted more first downs since he turned pro, and one of them is a tight end (Travis Kelce). Olave deserves more respect. Let’s hope he plays so loud in 2024 that national writers can’t keep ignoring him.

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    Derek Carr ranked as the 5th-worst starting quarterback in the NFC

    PFF ranked Derek Carr as the fifth-worst starting quarterback in the NFC, a year after they listed him fifth-best in the conference:

    Yikes. Derek Carr has a lot of work to do in changing his reputation around the NFL — he’s consistently landing in the 20’s with analysts ranking the league’s starting quarterbacks after the 2024 draft. The New Orleans Saints starter didn’t exactly impress many viewers in his first season with the team.

    He didn’t impress the Saints, either, which is why they completely overhauled the coaching staff supporting him. Klint Kubiak has replaced Pete Carmichael as offensive coordinator with Andrew Janocko taking over as the quarterbacks coach while other positions were flipped, too. But all of that support doesn’t mean much if Carr doesn’t show improvement. It’s on him to play better.

    And he may just be who he is at this stage in his career. That’s the thesis coming from Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema, who ranked Carr 21st among the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks. Here’s his explanation:

    What you see is what you get from Derek Carr at this point. His PFF passing grade has finished between 77.5 and 83.5 in four of the past five seasons. Now, I want to be clear, he is more good than bad. His turnover-worthy play rate has never been above 3.3% over that span, and his big-time throw percentage has been as high as 6.7%. But it has long felt like Carr leaves too many plays out on the field.

    In 2023, Carr passed for 25 touchdowns and just eight interceptions, but he recorded 17 big-time throws to 14 turnover-worthy plays, a much closer ratio. He remains a frustrating player to watch due to the dichotomy of what he’s capable of versus what he puts on tape.

    This put Carr 12th among the 16 quarterbacks in his conference, which isn’t ideal. It’s a steep fall-off after he was ranked higher last offseason. This time last year PFF slotted him at No. 14 overall and fifth-best in the NFC, alongside passers like Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, Geno Smith, and Jared Goff. That sentiment was shared by other offseason quarterback rankings at The Athletic (No. 14) and ESPN (No. 16), as well as NFL Network’s morning shows. He didn’t meet those expectations. Carr averaged the second-fewest passing yards per game in his career last season, so he isn’t seen as someone who can carry an offense these days.

    The Saints are betting everything on Kubiak helping to change that narrative. Putting Carr in a better position to succeed with a more creative offensive scheme isn’t the worst plan. But New Orleans is stuck with Carr whether he improves or doesn’t. Trying a different approach with a new play caller is their best (and only) move.

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    Former Wisconsin OT Rob Havenstein receives low grade by PFF entering 2024 NFL season

    Former Wisconsin OT Rob Havenstein receives low grade by PFF entering 2024 NFL season

    Former Wisconsin and current Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Rob Havenstein was ranked No. 22 overall in ProFootballFocus’ recent ranking of all 64 NFL offensive tackles entering the 2024 season.

    Havenstein, a nine-year NFL veteran with the Los Angeles Rams, is ranked behind players including the New York Jets’ Morgan Moses, Denver’s Garett Bolles, Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley and Buffalo’s Dion Dawkins.

    Following a down year in 2022, Havenstein posted a PFF overall grade over 79.0 in 2023. His 85.6 run-blocking grade ranked fourth for players eligible at his position.

    The former First-team All-America selection at UW is entering his tenth NFL campaign with the Rams after being selected No. 57 overall in the 2015 NFL draft.

    The 6-foot-8, 330-pound tackle was a member of Los Angeles’ 2021-22 Super Bowl-winning group. He has started 130 games at tackle with the Rams and played in a career-best 17 contests in 2022.

    As one of the longest tenured Badgers in the NFL, Havenstein matched a school record with 54 career games played and helped UW set a school record for total offense at 480.8 yards per game during his fourth season in Madison in 2013.

    With the emergence of running back Kyren Williams, creativity of head coach Sean McVay and the need to protect an aging Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles, the Rams’ offensive line will certainly need to perform in a top-heavy NFC West.