Wednesday marks the official end of the 2024 recruiting cycle, meaning the conclusion of Luke Fickell’s first full recruiting cycle as head coach at Wisconsin.
The Badgers’ 2024 group finishes the cycle ranked 23rd in the nation and seventh in the new-look Big Ten. It is a clear step forward after years of recruiting stagnation under former head coach Paul Chryst.
The group has been known for months. It is headlined by top-100 offensive tackle Kevin Haywood, four-star running back Dilin Jones, four-star interior offensive lineman Emerson Mandell and four-star defensive lineman Ernest Willor. However, there was an update worth noting this week.
Related: Where each Wisconsin Badgers signee finished in final class of 2024 recruiting rankings
Linebacker Thomas Heiberger picked up a fourth star on 247Sports.com, giving the Badgers 11 four-star recruits in the class. That means 11 blue-chippers were among the 22 signees.
For those interested in the importance of that detail, Bud Elliott breaks it down. No team with a full roster talent composite under the 50% threshold has ever won the national championship.
Some have come close (TCU in 2022 and Washington in 2023), but none has done it.
Blue-Chip Ratio 2022: The 15 teams who can ACTUALLY win a national title.@BudElliott3 breaks it down in his yearly study. https://t.co/a6FjrEpDfn pic.twitter.com/y66dzZTBb6
— 247Sports (@247Sports) July 13, 2022
Does this mean Wisconsin will start competing for national championships? Likely not. The roster still has a ways to go before it cracks the 50% threshold.
But this was Fickell’s first full cycle in Madison. This group offers the promise that better classes might be on the horizon, classes that hopefully begin to crack the nation’s top 15. That would mean a sizable increase of talent on the roster and the possibility that Wisconsin enters the territory Michigan was in last year, which was good enough to win it all.
Much must go right for Fickell and his staff on and off the field. But I’ve talked endlessly about the importance of the blue chip percentage and Wisconsin’s need for more star talent on the roster. I’d be foolish to not point out the Badgers just hit the 50% threshold in a class for the first time.