Tag: tj bollers

A check-in on the Badgers’ class of 2021 after landing five-star tackle Nolan Rucci

Entering Tuesday the Wisconsin Badgers’ class of 2021 was lining up to be–or maybe already was–the greatest recruiting class in…

Entering Tuesday the Wisconsin Badgers’ class of 2021 was lining up to be–or maybe already was–the greatest recruiting class in program history.

With big names including four-star offensive tackles J.P. Benzschawel and Riley Mahlman, four-star defensive end T.J. Bollers, four-star safety Hunter Wohler, four-star tight end Jack Pugh and four-star quarterback Deacon Hill already part of the class, Paul Chryst and his staff were seeking a commitment from one final big name player, a guy many NFL analysts have called a future top-5 pick in the NFL Draft.

He is five-star offensive tackle Nolan Rucci, the No. 14 player in the class of 2021.

Well, on Tuesday the Badgers received a commitment from Rucci and cemented the 2021 class as the best the program has ever seen.

So we can project that the group will be looked upon fondly when it’s all said done, but where do they lie now in the national and conference recruiting rankings?

The answer: the No. 16 class in the country and No. 3 in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State and Michigan.

Listen to some of the schools with classes currently ranked higher than Wisconsin’s: Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Oregon, Clemson, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, USC, Michigan, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

Those are some of the blue blood programs in college football, teams who are often left at the end of the season battling for a national championship.

Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers are now entering the conversation with those schools thanks to this class and the recruiting momentum they’ve gained in recent years.

Is a national championship on the horizon? Who knows. But this class and the ones to follow will at least give the program a better shot at winning their first Big Ten championship since 2012.

They obviously need to come in and show it on the field. But if we’ve seen anything during the Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard era it’s that the player development is tremendous, the coaching is tremendous and the success will come no matter who is on the field.

Going forward, now, those guys on the field will be one of the best groups in the country. The sky is the limit for this program going forward and landing Rucci on Tuesday was only the beginning.

Wisconsin offers 2022’s No. 1 player from Iowa

The Wisconsin Badgers continued their flurry of class of 2022 offers yesterday when they extended one to four-star safety…

The Wisconsin Badgers continued their flurry of class of 2022 offers yesterday when they extended one to four-star safety Xavier Nwankpa.

Nwankpa is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 92 player in the class of 2022, the No. 5 safety and the No. 1 recruit from his home state of Iowa.

Other schools to offer the four-star safety include Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri and Florida.

Chryst and company currently have one commit in their class of 2022–four-star safety Braelon Allen–so landing a commitment from Nwankpa when his recruiting process comes to a close would be massive for the program and would continue its recent run of recruiting success.

Related: USC offers Wisconsin’s top quarterback target in the class of 2022

As we’ve seen a lot recently, it did not take long for Wisconsin commit T.J. Bollers to go to Twitter and start the inner-recruit recruiting push:

Even if there is no fall football season for the Big Ten the recruiting push will go on (hopefully) without a hitch, giving Badger fans at least something to follow and get excited about as they wait for the return of Wisconsin Badger and Big Ten football.

 

For everything Wisconsin Badgers and the class of 2021 check out the 2021 commitment tracker and follow @thebadgerswire, @benzkenney and @alow_33 on Twitter.

Where the Badger defense ranks among the Big Ten’s best over the last three years

The Big Ten conference is most commonly known for its old school-style play, cold weather and stellar defensive units…

The Big Ten conference is most commonly known for its old school-style play, cold weather and stellar defensive units.

The Wisconsin football program is probably the perfect embodiment of all three, finishing near the top of the conference in nearly every defensive category year after year.

On average over the last three seasons each Big Ten team has allowed 671 points. The Wisconsin Badgers? 492.

As seen above that mark is good for second behind Iowa’s 476 and ahead of Penn State’s 494, Michigan State’s 524 and Michigan’s 552.

What’s crazy to think about is that the best years may be yet to come for Jim Leonhard’s unit, as the program has landed commitments from top defensive prospects including Braelon Allen, Hunter Wohler and T.J. Bollers.

What we do know at this point, though, is for however long Leonhard stays around on Paul Chryst’s staff the defensive unit will be one of the best in the conference and in the country. After his time in Madison is done? Who knows. But the unit right now has been great and seems to be only getting better.

Instant Twitter reaction: 2021 WR Skyler Bell commits to Wisconsin

Badger fans woke up to positive news this morning after a week of the contrary as 2021 three-star wide receiver Skyler Bell announced…

Badger fans woke up to positive news this morning after a week of the contrary as 2021 three-star wide receiver Skyler Bell announced his commitment to play for Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers.

It did not take long for Badger coaches, players and commits to take to Twitter to congratulate the wide receiver and express their excitement for the coming years.

Here is the instant Twitter reaction from Bell’s commitment:

 

Class of 2021 four-star defensive end T.J. Bollers:

 

2019 four-star quarterback Graham Mertz:

 

2021 four-star safety Hunter Wohler:

 

2021 four-star quarterback Deacon Pe’a Hill:

 

2021 three-star inside linebacker Jake Chaney:

 

2021 three-star defensive end Mike Jarvis:

 

Bell’s high school program:

 

Members of the recruiting staff:

A look at where Wisconsin football’s class of 2021 currently stands

A look at where Wisconsin’s class of 2021 stands

A historic Wisconsin football class of 2021 is taking shape as the Badgers push for a few more commitments to round out the group. The Badgers currently have 15 hard commits in the class, led by a pair of four-star OL in Riley Mahlman and JP Benzchawel.

The Rankings: Wisconsin has the No. 15 overall class in the country according to 247Sports. In the same metrics, their Big Ten ranking is No. 3 overall behind Ohio State and Michigan, and their current spot at 15 is 11 spots higher than last year’s overall class ranking.

The Class: Wisconsin’s class currently has a solid defensive core already in place. Led by the June 11 commitment of four-star DE T.J. Bollers, the Badgers have a bright future for DC Jim Leonhard to shape.. Hunter Wohler, a safety out of Muskego High School in Wisconsin, is the only other 247Sports four-star commit on the defensive side.

The Badgers have nearly every offensive position covered, as they hold commitments from three RB’s, a QB in Deacon Pe’a Hill, a TE in Jack Pugh, and multiple OL as previously noted.

What’s Next: The Badgers are heavily invested in the WR market, which currently is the only glaring hole on offense in 2021. Wisconsin has yet to land a commitment from a 2021 WR, and there are a few targets fans should note. Pe’a Hill and others in the famous 2021 group chat (a group chat of commits that has been used as a recruiting weapon) have been part of the recruiting process to fill the hole. They have recently been in contact with Skyler Bell, a 2021 WR out of Connecticut, as well as WR Joseph Manjack, a Texas native who recently de-committed from SMU. Both players hold official Badgers offers, and Wisconsin continues to put their eggs in the WR basket as the class comes to a close.

A way-too-early look at the 2022 Wisconsin Badger defense

Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badger coaching staff have been making waves on the recruiting trail during the last few months, landing…

Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badger coaching staff have been making waves on the recruiting trail during the last few months, landing big defensive names including Braelon Allen, T.J. Bollers, Hunter Wohler and Darryl Peterson.

Their 2021 class currently stands at No. 14 in the nation and No. 3 in the conference, both marks placing the class as the best the program’s had since the online ranking era began.

Every college football fan knows that the Badgers pride themselves on their defense and they–no matter who is out there on the field–always seem to have one of the conference’s best defensive units.

With all of the question marks surrounding the upcoming 2020 football season I’m looking into the future at the 2022 defensive unit, one which at this point is lining up to be an absolute sight to see.

 

Defensive Line

Syndication: Milwaukee
Badgers nose tackle Keeanu Benton (95) and linebacker Jack Sanborn celebrate a fumble recovery by UW’s defense deep in its own territory during the first quarter against Michigan. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-Imagn Content Services, LLC

Defensive end: T.J. Bollers, Ayo Adebogun, Mike Jarvis, Cade McDonald

Nose tackle: Keeanu Benton, Rodas Johnson

 

Keeanu Benton showed crazy potential last season as a true freshman. He will be a senior at this point and the leader of a talented defensive front.

Bollers is a four-star recruit and will be coming to Madison in 2021 as one of the highest-rated recruits in the 2021 class.

This unit will have the skills needed to control the opponents’ ground game but even more significantly they will be an absolute force rushing the quarterback.

 

Next…the linebackers

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Twitter reaction from four-star safety Braelon Allen’s commitment

Four-star 2022 safety Braelon Allen became the first member of the Badgers’ class of 2022 last night as he announced that he was…

Four-star 2022 safety Braelon Allen became the first member of the Badgers’ class of 2022 last night as he announced that he was “staying home” and committing to play for the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin native is the No. 166-ranked recruit in his class, No. 6 at his position and the No. 4 recruit from the state of Wisconsin.

Here’s what Badger players, coaches and recruits had to say on Twitter after Allen announced his commitment.

 

First, the introduction of the new class of 2022 hashtag by many of the program’s top recruiters.

 

Next, recruits and underclassmen expressed their excitement to play with the future Badger.

 

Finally, a tweet that warrants speculation as four-star class of 2022 defensive end Isaac Hamm–the No. 12 recruit at his position and the No. 3 recruit from the state of Wisconsin–chimed in on the news.

 

For everything Wisconsin recruiting follow @thebadgerswire, @benzkenney and @alow_33 on Twitter.

 

Podcast: Exclusive interview with four-star 2021 Wisconsin commit T.J. Bollers

The four-star Wisconsin commit talks his recruitment and much more on this episode of Locked On Badgers

[lawrence-related id=20010][lawrence-newsletter]On the Locked On Badgers podcast, we have recently had the chance to interview multiple members of Wisconsin football’s class of 202. On today’s episode, 2021 DE commit T.J. Bollers joins the show to talk about his recruiting journey, his goals in Madison, and his passion for school.

You can listen to Locked On Badgers wherever you get your podcasts with new episodes coming at you Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Recent Wisconsin commit has a few words to share about Ohio State

Four-star defensive end T.J. Bollers committed to the Badgers last week and, like many in the class of 2021, are expressing their…

Four-star defensive end T.J. Bollers committed to the Badgers last week and, like many in the class of 2021, is expressing his excitement about getting to Madison and playing with the rest of his class in the coming years.

If the class’ Big Ten and National Championship talk isn’t enough for Badger fans, look at what Bollers tweeted yesterday in response to a fellow 2021 defensive end tweeting “Imagine being committed to Clemson could not be me.”

And if it couldn’t get better than that, here was his response to a fan mentioning the Buckeyes (minor) success against the Badgers in recent years.

The 2021 class is already the highest-ranked Wisconsin recruiting class since the beginning of the internet ranking era but, with College Football Playoff talk and recent news of their group chat trying to court top recruits Nolan Rucci and Skyler Bell, it may also quickly become the most beloved.

2021 can’t come soon enough.

Locked On Badgers: 2021 4-star DE T.J. Bollers commits to Wisconsin, Who starts at RB for the Badgers in 2020?

The Badgers land their highest-rated defensive player in the class of 2021

[lawrence-newsletter]The Locked On Badgers Podcast is a daily Wisconsin basketball and football podcast bringing you short-form, daily coverage of Badgers sports Monday through Friday. On today’s episode, Asher breaks down 2021 DE T.J. Bollers announcing his Wisconsin commitment and tells you why RB is the position to watch early in the season.

You can listen to Locked On Badgers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and wherever else you find your podcasts, Monday through Friday.