Tag: Wisconsin

2025 Michigan tight end commit will make official visit to Notre Dame

This would be a huge flip.

Notre Dame has developed a reputation in recent years for its quality tight ends. Another one could be coming to the Irish next season, and it would really would make the fan base happy.

Tight end recruit Andrew Olesh, the top-ranked 2025 recruit in Pennsylvania according to 247Sports, committed to Michigan on July 8 without the Irish having made him an offer. Clearly, something has changed though because Irish Illustrated is reporting that Olesh will make an official visit for the Irish’s Nov. 9 game against Florida State.

If the Irish were to lure Olesh away from the Wolverines, he would be the third 2025 commit that 247Sports has ranked as the best in their respective state. The ones so far are offensive tackle [autotag]Will Black[/autotag] from Connecticut and [autotag]James Flanigan[/autotag], currently the only tight end in that recruiting class, from Wisconsin.

247Sports currently ranks the Irish 13th among the 2025 recruiting classes, so this should bump them up a bit if it happens:

Best of luck to the Irish in efforts to flip Olesh.

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Camp Randall Stadium to play host to famous rock band in July, 2025

Camp Randall Stadium to play host to famous rock band in July, 2025

Camp Randall Stadium will host the famous rock band Coldplay during its Music of the Spheres World Tour 2025 on Saturday, July 19, 2025.

This will mark the first concert at Camp Randall Stadium since Oct. 6, 1997, when the iconic football venue played host to The Rolling Stones during its Blues Traveler show.

Camp Randall Stadium also hosted Pink Floyd, Genesis and U2 in the 1980s and 1990s. But after the Stones came to town in 1997, the stadium experienced an extended drought in shows due to low attendance rates and the popularity of other venues in places like Milwaukee and Chicago.

Next summer’s show in Madison is one of 10 added North American shows slated to take place in May, June, and July 2025. The band will also play at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Rogers Stadium in Toronto, Canada Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, Allegiant Field in Las Vegas, Nevada and Stanford Stadium in California.

The presale for tickets begins on Friday, Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. CT. The general sale begins Friday, Oct. 11 at noon CT.

Four-star 2025 New Hampshire forward commits to Notre Dame

Guess who now has the top 2025 recruiting class?

Easily the best recruiting week for Notre Dame since [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] took over wrapped up appropriately. The Irish received three commits for their 2025 class every other day, and the future of the program seems set as a result.

[autotag]Ryder Frost[/autotag], a four-star forward recruit and the third-ranked 2025 recruit from New Hampshire according to 247Sports, has committed to the Irish, joining [autotag]Jalen Haralson[/autotag] and [autotag]Brady Koehler[/autotag] from earlier in the week. Just missing out on Frost were other finalists Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Syracuse and Virginia Tech.

The Irish now rank first overall in 247Sports 2025 recruiting class rankings with one five-star commit, who also happens to be the highest-rated recruit since the internet started tracking such ratings, and two four-star commits. Iowa State, which ranks second, is over two-and-a-half points behind. If that doesn’t give you cause for excitement, nothing will.

Chances are you missed Frost’s announcement on the 247Sports YouTube channel so here it is:

Shrewsberry has convinced some serious talent to commit to South Bend, and it won’t be long before that talent is around to try and return the Irish to glory that mostly has been elusive for some time.

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2026 Notre Dame interior offensive lineman target to visit campus

Hope the Irish can impress him enough.

Notre Dame has been a hotbed for offensive line talent in recent years. While there are concerns about that unit in 2024, the future always seems bright these days. Hopefully for the Irish, that future will include 2026 recruit Ben Nichols.

Nichols, Michigan’s No. 3 recruit in the 2026 class according to 247Sports, has received offers from 19 Football Bowl Subdivision programs. The Irish made their offer on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Now, he’ll be making a visit to campus when the Irish open their home schedule against Northern Illinois.

Nichols took to social media and expressed excitement about his upcoming trip to South Bend:

The Irish have some stiff competition to try and win Nichols’ services. Alabama made the most recent offer in late August. Others aiming for him include Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Illinois.

Good luck to the Irish in landing Nichols. They just might need it.

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Wisconsin program legend among college football interception leaders since 1976

Wisconsin program legend among college football interception leaders since 1976

Former Wisconsin star safety Jim Leonhard is tied for the fourth most interceptions in college football since 1976.

The Tony, Wisconsin native is tied with Miami legend Ed Reed, Wake Forest’s Alphonso Smith, Florida State’s Terrell Buckley and Arizona’s Chuck Cecil with 21 interceptions since ’76.

Bowling Green’s Martin Bayless leads the list with 27 while Boston College’s Tony Thurman and Texas Tech’s Tracy Saul boast 26 and 25 picks, respectively.

Unlike a majority of these all-world athletes, Leonhard arrived in Madison as a walk-on in 2001. A year later, he was named first-team All-America and Wisconsin’s team MVP as a sophomore.

By the time he left campus, the 5-foot-8 safety boasted three first-team All-American selections, shattered the Big Ten record with 1,347 career punt return yards and finished his senior campaign as a finalist for the inaugural Lott IMPACT Trophy.

Leonhard followed his storied college career with 10 seasons in the NFL as a member of the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, the New York Jets, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns.

After retirement, he would go on to serve as Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach in 2016  before transitioning to defensive coordinator from 2017-2022. Under his guidance, UW landed in the nation’s top five for total defense and top 10 in scoring defense on four separate occasions.

Leonard was inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

Badgers Wire covers Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell at Big Ten media days

The Luke Fickell filibuster was the talk of Big Ten media days on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Our friends at Badgers Wire are covering Wisconsin and head coach Luke Fickell at Big Ten media days in Indianapolis. Here is Badgers Wire’s initial story on Fickell’s opening remarks and press conference. The video of his 13-minute speech can be found inside the link.

We podcasted with Badgers Wire editor Ben Kenney earlier this year, discussing Alex Grinch’s move from USC to Wisconsin:

How worried are Wisconsin football fans that Alex Grinch is now on their coaching staff? You will be interested in the answer. In some ways, while we were interviewing Badgers Wire editor Ben Kenney about Wisconsin, this Grinch segment turned into a two-way interview in which Ben wanted to know what USC fans and bloggers thought about Grinch. It’s a revealing moment in an informative Big Ten conversation, part of “Big Ten Summer” here at Trojans Wire.

Wisconsin visits USC on Sept. 28 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Lincoln Riley will coach against Alex Grinch. It should be fun. It will definitely be fascinating.

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Big Ten primer — Wisconsin’s greatest football moment

Wisconsin’s first Rose Bowl win was the ultimate feel-good moment for the Badgers.

USC goes to Big Ten media days in Indianapolis this week. The Trojans enter a new world and a new era. One of their new conference neighbors is Wisconsin.

The Badgers have had a lot of good teams in the past 35 years. They have beaten Miami in an Orange Bowl game. They have played in several Rose Bowl games. They have produced multiple Heisman Trophy winners, Alan Ameche and Ron Dayne. Yet, if trying to pinpoint the greatest Wisconsin football moment, which one is the best of them all?

It has to be the 1994 Rose Bowl.

Wisconsin’s 1963 Rose Bowl against USC was one of the greatest college football games ever played, but the Badgers didn’t win that one. Wisconsin made three Rose Bowls in 11 seasons from 1952 through 1962 but didn’t win any of those Granddaddies. The Badgers did win Rose Bowls in the 1998 and 1999 seasons, but the first Pasadena triumph holds a special place in the hearts of Badger fans. Wisconsin was a total nobody in college football for nearly 30 years from the early 1960s through early 1990s, but then Barry Alvarez turned the program around. The 1993 Big Ten title and subsequent 1994 Rose Bowl win over Terry Donahue’s UCLA Bruins were special achievements, but there was an element of magic and romance which could never be duplicated by subsequent championship moments. The 1993 season will endure as a uniquely cherished part of Wisconsin sports history.

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Ryan Ramczyk won’t play football in 2024, NFL future in doubt

Ryan Ramczyk won’t play football in 2024, and his NFL future is in doubt. If he’s already played his last down, it’s a career he can be proud of:

We received the clearest indication yet that Ryan Ramczyk has already played his last down of pro football on Thursday. The New Orleans Saints placed their former All-Pro right tackle on the reserve/physically unable to perform (PUP) list, which carries an important distinction from the active/PUP list other players were designated to.

As observed by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Ramczyk is a vested veteran (someone who has earned earned three or more credited seasons), and those vested veterans who have been placed on the reserve/PUP list before roster cuts on Aug. 27 are ineligible to play this season. His year is over.

“But his career for sure could be over now,” Rapoport said on NFL Network. “He is out for the season. He’s dealing with a knee issue and he of course has had some injury concerns over the years. But dealing with a knee issue now, they thought it was going to get better, they thought it was going to turn the corner, it just did not improve like the Saints and like Ramczyk had hoped.”

It’s possible that Ramczyk could bounce back after taking a year off, but he’s struggled to manage a degenerative knee condition and that’s unlikely to improve with time. At this point all he can realistically do is shed weight like many offensive linemen do after their playing careers are over, and formally file his retirement papers once the Saints are in a position to absorb it on the salary cap.

If this is it for Ramczyk, it’s a career he can be proud of. He only played a single season of Division I football in college before turning pro, having started at left tackle for Wisconsin after trying his hand at welding school, only to unexpectedly take over for an injured Zach Strief at right tackle during his first game as a rookie. Ramczyk immediately established himself as a top-five right tackle in the league and won three All-Pro nods in his seven-year career, starting every game he played. Few players retire without regrets, but Ramczyk got much closer than most. We’ll wish him well for whatever’s next.

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Ryan Ramczyk designated to reserve/physically unable to perform list

Ryan Ramczyk was designated to the reserve/PUP list on Thursday. He’s technically sidelined for the first four games, but his season is effectively over:

It had been looking like for a while now that New Orleans Saints All-Pro tackle Ryan Ramczyk’s future with the team was in doubt.

Thursday’s announcement confirmed just this.

The Saints shared that Ramczyk was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform (PUP) list as he’s battling what’s been reported to be a degenerative knee issue. This will officially sideline him for the first four games of the season. If there were any chance Ramczyk could return sooner he wouldn’t be going on PUP.

With Ramczyk being placed on the list, he’s technically eligible to be activated to the roster the Monday after Week 4’s game against the Atlanta Falcons (Sept. 30). But according to NOF’s Nick Underhill, this is unlikely. He writes that “the expectation is that (Ramczyk) is not particularly close and his absence will extend well beyond the first four games. He’s unlikely to play this season.”

From the talk many of us heard this offseason from the Saints front office and coaching staff, this doesn’t come as a surprise. Head coach Dennis Allen made this statement earlier this offseason which gave us our first indication that Ramzyck’s future was uncertain: “We’ve got a plan for him. Certainly we don’t have to make any decisions now, but I haven’t seen the progress that I was hoping to see.”

If it is the end of the road for Ramczyk, he’s enjoyed a heck of a career. The former first-round pick started in all 101 games that he’s appeared in over seven years while also earning three All-Pro selections. That he went on to become one of the NFL’s most dominant right tackles in his prime after playing just a single season of Division I football at Wisconsin, at left tackle, is incredibly impressive.

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Former Wisconsin QB leads NFL history in significant statistical category

Former Wisconsin QB leads NFL history in significant statistical category

Former Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson holds the highest passer rating among quarterbacks with 5,000 or more rushing yards in NFL history.

With a career passer rating of 100.0, Wilson ranks first above two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton and four-time Pro Bowl QB Michael Vick. All four athletes have amassed over 5,000 rush yards during their professional careers.

The statistic speaks to Wilson’s duality as a passing and rushing threat for opposing defenses. The former Badger has notched a passer rating of 100.0 or more in seven of his 12 NFL seasons and rushed for more than 500 yards in four of his professional campaigns.

At Wisconsin, Wilson provided a glimpse of what would arrive on NFL gridirons. In his sole season as a Badger, the future Super Bowl champion set the NCAA record for pass efficiency (191.8). The output earned him 2011 Big Ten Quarterback of the Year nods, and a second-round selection in the 2012 NFL draft.

After being selected by the Seahawks, Wilson would ultimately captain to its first title in franchise history in Super Bowl XLVIII. He recorded a 123.1 passer rating and rushed for 26 yards in the 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos.

Wilson reached another Super Bowl in 2014, and totaled nine Pro Bowls in 10 seasons as Seattle’s starting quarterback.

Despite recent storylines surrounding his two-year tenure with the Denver Broncos, Wilson still recorded a passer rating of 98.0 and rushed for 341 yards.

In what will likely be his final seasons in the NFL, Wilson can remain atop the impressive statistical category with a strong season in Pittsburgh.