Tag: Recruiting

2025 Alabama safety commits to Tennessee football

2025 Alabama safety prospect commits to Tennessee football.

2025 Alabama safety prospect Sidney Walton committed to Tennessee on Thursday.

“I’m home,” Walton said.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pound safety prospect is from Moody High School in Moody, Alabama.

Walton is the No. 453 overall prospect in the class of 2025. He ranks as the No. 41 safety prospect and No. 20 player in Alabama, according to 247Sports.

Tennessee is one of four Southeastern Conference schools to offer Walton. Kentucky was the first SEC school to offer him on Jan. 24, 2023.

Walton unofficially visited Tennessee on Sept. 9, 2023 for the Austin Peay game, Oct. 14, 2023 for the Texas A&M game and on April 6 for spring practice.

The Vols offered Walton a scholarship on Sept. 9, 2023.

Wisconsin locks in official visit with 2025 tight end Nizyi Davis

Wisconsin locks in official visit with 2025 tight end Nizyi Davis

Wisconsin football locked in an official visit with class of 2025 tight end Nizyi Davis on Wednesday.

Davis will be on campus May 31-June 2 during a busy official visit weekend.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

The three-star tight end is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 776 player in the class of 2025, No. 39 tight end and No. 10 recruit from his home state of Indiana.

Wisconsin and in-state Purdue are the two schools to have scheduled visits with the Indianapolis, Indiana native. Other notable schools on his offer sheet include Cincinnati, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State and West Virginia.

Luke Fickell’s class of 2025 currently has eight players committed — two of which cross the blue-chip threshold. The group currently ranks No. 19 in the nation at this early stage in the cycle.

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

[lawrence-related id=74195,74165,74765,74798,73207]

Wisconsin football schedules official visit with rising 2025 edge rusher

Wisconsin football schedules official visit with rising 2025 edge rusher

Wisconsin football locked in an official visit with class of 2025 edge rusher Jayden Loftin on Thursday.

Loftin will be on campus May 31-June 2, kicking off the busiest recruiting month of the year.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

The three-star edge rusher is 247Sports’ No. 754 player in the class of 2025, No. 56 edge rusher and No. 24 recruit from his home state of New Jersey.

Wisconsin is one of four programs to have scheduled a visit with Loftin, along with Minnesota, Penn State and Tennessee. Other schools on his offer sheet include Rutgers, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia.

Luke Fickell is looking to build momentum in the class of 2025. The Badgers currently have eight players committed — two of which cross the blue-chip threshold. The group currently ranks No. 19 in the nation at this early stage in the cycle.

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

[lawrence-related id=74195,74165,74765,74798,73207]

Wisconsin boasts two of 247Sports’ ‘top Big Ten newcomers’ entering 2024

Wisconsin boasts two of 247Sports’ ‘top Big Ten newcomers’ entering 2024

Two of Wisconsin football’s offseason additions made 247Sports’ list of the top 25 Big Ten newcomers entering 2024.

Those two: quarterback Tyler Van Dyke at No. 23 and inside linebacker Tackett Curtis at No. 14.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

Van Dyke is set to likely start for the Badgers this season after four years at Miami. He transfers with 32 games of experience and stats including a 63.7 completion percentage, 7,469 yards, 54 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. His inclusion on the list is no surprise, as he’s instantly one of the more accomplished quarterbacks in the conference.

Curtis, meanwhile, transferred to Wisconsin after one season at USC. The former top recruit started most of the season at inside linebacker for a poor Trojans defense, recording 40 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and two sacks. He brings an impressive recruiting pedigree and a ton of potential, but he isn’t in line to start for the Badgers in 2024.

Luke Fickell and his staff worked hard to re-shape the program’s linebacker room. Veteran Jaheim Thomas is projected to start alongside Jake Chaney this season, with Curtis and former UNC linebacker Sebastian Cheeks forming the future.

Curtis has a high transfer portal ranking because of his high school billing. But he likely won’t have a huge impact in 2024.

247Sports’ piece looks at the highest transfer rating, which Curtis does bring. It may just take a few years for that potential to pay off on the field.

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

[lawrence-related id=74195,74165,74765,74798,73207]

Notre Dame loses very key staff member to Big Ten program

A big loss for Notre Dame football

Notre Dame recruiting has taken a significant step forward in recent years.  Sure, that starts with the head coach and Marcus Freeman clearly has much to do with that, but the recruiting staff has done a phenomenal job as well.

Newly promoted director of recruiting Dre Brown is however leaving Notre Dame to return to Illinois, where he played college football.  He’ll take on the role of director of player personnel.

FootballScoop had the report on Wednesday night.  According to the report, Notre Dame will have hosted more than 1,000 athletes during its spring camp which clearly is largely Brown’s doing.

Notre Dame has hauled in top-12 recruiting classes each of the last three years with top-10 classes coming in the last two.

[lawrence-related id=85053,85165,85148,85125]

 

Report: Wisconsin basketball in pursuit of former Duke transfer guard Jaden Schutt

Wisconsin basketball in pursuit of former Duke guard Jaden Schutt

Wisconsin basketball is among the programs to have reached out to Duke transfer guard Jaden Schutt, according to 247Sports’ Evan Flood.

Schutt entered the portal on April 15 after two years with the Blue Devils. The 6’5″ shooting guard averaged 2.1 points in 6.9 minutes per game as a freshman in 2022-23. He redshirted in 2023-24 after suffering an injury in the fall.

Related: Tracking Wisconsin basketball’s reported transfer portal visits and targets

Wisconsin is on the list of schools that have expressed interest in the Duke transfer along with other top programs including Iowa, Michigan and Xavier.

There is a prior connection here, as the Badgers offered the former four-star recruit during the class of 2022 recruiting cycle. Schutt was 247Sports’ No. 75 overall recruit in the class and No. 6 shooting guard, so there remains a ton of untapped potential there.

Wisconsin is in need to a dominant wing player after the departure of A.J. Storr. Schutt would be a wild card given his lack of experience. But so was Storr after only one season at St. John’s, and that worked out well for the Badgers.

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

[lawrence-related id=74195,74165,74765,74798,73207]

Wisconsin basketball in pursuit of a top transfer, nation’s leading 3-point shooter

Greg Gard and the Wisconsin staff are still quite active in the transfer portal:

Wisconsin basketball contacted former Dayton guard Koby Brea, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw.

Brea, a 6’6″ marksman, entered the transfer portal earlier this week with one year of eligibility remaining. A myriad of schools have reached out to the top shooting guard, including Kansas, UConn, Duke, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Baylor and Wisconsin. Shaw notes there are 25 total programs on that list.

Related: Tracking Wisconsin basketball’s reported transfer portal visits and targets

The Bronx, New York native shot a remarkable 49.8% from downtown during the 2023-2024 season, enough to vault him into NCAA Division I men’s basketball’s upper echelon. He averaged 11.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 33 appearances for the Flyers in his fourth campaign in Ohio.

247sports ranks Brea as the No. 25 overall shooting guard and No. 139 overall player in the portal.

Wisconsin is certainly in need of a shooting boost from the perimeter with the departures of top guard A.J. Storr and sharpshooter Connor Essegian,. Brea’s length and veteran presence could also provide a spark for head coach Greg Gard’s guard rotation.

Brea is yet to make a transfer decision.

Oregon State running back transfer updates visit to Tennessee

Oregon State running back transfer updates visit to Tennessee football.

Oregon State running back transfer Damien Martinez will no longer visit Tennessee.

Martinez was scheduled to visit the Vols on April 21-22. He is scheduled to visit Arizona today, Mississippi State on Friday and Saturday, Kentucky April 23-24 and Miami April 25-27, according to Hayes Fawcett of On3.

In 2023, Martinez rushed for 1,185 yards and nine touchdowns for the Beavers.

He is a former three-star prospect and ranked as the No. 35 running back in the class of 2022, and ranked as the No. 61 player in Texas. As a transfer, he ranks as the No. 34 best player and No. 2 running back.

The Oregon State transfer entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 9.

UCLA Bruins host class of 2028 edge defender Marcus Fakatou

The Bruins are hosting players at Spring practice.

The UCLA Bruins are doing their work to prepare for the future. In this case, far into the future. Last weekend, the Bruins hosted a class of 2028 recruit at their spring practice, Marcus Fakatou.

The Orange Lutheran product from Fontana, CA, who could graduate after the DeShaun Foster era, depending on his success, already has college-level size. At 6’7″ and 260 pounds, Fakatou is a massive player off the edge and has a chance to continue growing.

Though planning this far ahead could be potentially a fruitless endeavor, hosting Fakatou cements the fact that the UCLA Bruins are playing the long game in Westwood.

The Bruins have already offered players from the 2026 recruiting class and have made a good impression, it seems, on Fakatou. With his size and potential to play at the college level, Fakatou could be a hot commodity for recruiters down the line.

So, it remains to be seen whether the Bruins doing their due diligence pays off, but for now, it shows that they are all in on the future.

Top Michigan target sets commitment date

Got some work to do for a former in-state prospect. #GoBlue

Sherrone Moore and the rest of the staff are still working on their first commitment as the new era of Michigan football starts, and they might be closing in on a commitment from cornerback Alex Graham.

Graham took to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday and announced that he would be locking in a decision on April 26th. He originally released a top-seven schools list in early March that included Michigan, Georgia, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Penn State, and Alabama.

Graham currently holds a .9253 grade from the 247Sports Composite which makes him the 210th player nationally. He would be the second-highest-rated commit in the 2025 class after quarterback Carter Smith. Interestingly, Graham is listed as a safety on most recruiting services but is expected to play cornerback at the next level. The four-star cornerback is originally from Michigan but transferred to national powerhouse Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy ahead of last season and is expected to be a starter during next season.

Graham has been a nationally recruited prospect for a while now, and was trending to Michigan for almost his entire recruitment, but has recently picked up steam to Colorado. The Buffaloes, who are smitten with Prime Time fever, have made a recent surge and picked up predictions across multiple networks in favor of the new Big 12 school with some experts even flipping their original Michigan picks. As of now, it looks like Graham will side with the Buffs.

Of course, his recruitment isn’t over yet. Michigan has 11 days to get in Graham’s ear and remind him why he originally loved Michigan. The Wolverines are coming off a national title and have been producing NFL defensive backs at a high level for the last couple of seasons, so selling Graham on the program’s prestige should be easy. Even if he does side with Colorado next week, there is still plenty of time to go until signing day.

Expect Michigan to work hard on Graham until the last minute.