National Signing Day has come and gone and the Wisconsin Badgers have put together a fairly decent class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. In the spirit of looking at recruiting classes compared to the rest of the conference, Badgers Wire is taking a look at Wisconsin’s class on a national level and a conference level. We’ll be including their national rankings and their conference rankings. Next up on our list is a program that has been rather steady under the stewardship of its longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald. We’ll be looking at Northwestern.
The Northwestern Wildcats are coming off Fitzgerald’s worst season as a head coach since taking over the program. The Wildcats were 3-9 in 2019 with a 1-8 record against Big Ten opponents. The closest the Wildcats have come to this record under Fitz was in his first season, when Northwestern finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the conference. What is especially stunning about the 2019 disaster is the fact that the Wildcats were 9-5 in 2018 and 8-1 in B1G play, winning their first Big Ten West Division championship. The 2019 campaign was a jarring season all the way around, and it was the Cats’ first losing season since 2014.
The Wildcats have the nation’s 47th-ranked recruiting class in 2020. They finished with the Big Ten’s No. 11 recruiting class with a player average rating of .8650. Their best player is center Peter Skoronski. At 6-foot-4, 275 pounds, Skoronski (.9503) is the No. 3 player in Illinois and the 3rd-best center in the class of 2020. The Badgers (.8782) have a higher per-recruit average than the Wildcats (.8650). The Badgers’ best player in 247’s composite rankings is offensive tackle Trey Wedig (.9643). The 6-foot-8, 320-pound behemoth is ranked (.0140) higher than Skoronski for the Wildcats.
The position where both classes compare: outside linebacker. The Badgers signed Cole Dakovich (.8755), a 6-foot-5, 220-pound player out of Catholic Memorial in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He’s the No. 34 player at his position in the nation and the third-best player coming out of Wisconsin. The Spartans signed Cullen Coleman. At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Coleman (.8756) is the nation’s 33rd-best outside linebacker, and he’s the 4th-best player in New York. Both players are likely to sit and learn with veteran players ahead of them, but Coleman plans to come in and compete for a starting position.