I know Badger fans aren't a very big fan of John Settle but there's some things that have changed since his last go around that should help him be a much more efficient recruiter if not a better recruiter.
The #1 difference is the arrival of a full time recruiting coordinator in a non coaching role. In addition to Ben Strickland the Badgers currently have 3 other coaches (Ingels, Ogelesby and Mehlhaff) who will also help out with the initial stages of a prospects recruitment. You couldn't ask for a better situation for someone who hasn't shown much initiative or effort, as Setttle only has to do is develop a relationship with these kids once they already have an awareness towards Wisconsin.
IMO Settles is the type of coach you have to baby and Wisconsin couldn't do that with the recruiting coordinators they had in his first run. When Settles first started at Madison he was recruiting an area he wasn't familiar with and instead of getting the help he needed from those guys (specifically Doeren and Rudolph) they couldn't because they were too busy pulling the weight for the rest of the team. Dave Doeren was an amazing recruiter but he was also the Co-DC in addition to coaching his position. How much free time did Dave Doeren have to help someone like Settle? The same goes for when Randall McCray took over but he's someone who probably shouldn't have been the RC in the first place. McCray's attempt at recruiting Illinois is what made every Badger fan so sour about that area. Then last you had Joe Rudolph who was responsible for 6 or 7 commits every year by himself. how much more could you really expect out of the guy?
Another thing that will help Settle this time around is how this staff recruits as a TEAM. I've never seen a staff recruit like this in that they don't target a lot of kids but the ones they do target they go after together. For instance Auston Robertson and Ben Skowronek just came on a visit and are now getting recruited by 8 members of the staff on twitter! The same goes for David Reese who visited the same day and he's got 6 different staff members in his ear on twitter. With this type of group recruiting it makes up for having a potential weak link as well as covers the school in case of any staff turnover that has hit Wisconsin so hard in recent years.
Another big thing for Settles this time around is that he will be recruiting an area he's familiar with and an area that has a raised awareness for what Wisconsin has to offer. Settle is coming into a situation with a 4 star RB already committed to the program and has another 4 star player (LB Julian Okwara) that has been reaching out the staff for quite some time now. All the leg work has been done after Russell Wilson exploded onto the scene a few years ago. Everyone in North Carolina and especially the NC State fans know what he was able to accomplish at Wisconsin and subsequently what type of school and program Wisconsin is. Throw in a state that doesn't have any powerhouses at the moment and you have the potential to be a very fertile recruiting zone. Take a look at the 4 instate teams in P5 conferences and it's not pretty. North Carolina is in the middle of an academic scandal and recruits are thinking twice about heading there. NC State is a program that is doing nice but every time a recruit looks into Dave Doeren, Matt Canada or Eddie Faulkner they also raise their awareness towards Wisconsin. Duke is on the come up but they haven't had any long sustained period of success. Some Duke fans still look back at the 1994 season as one of the schools biggest highlights for football and they lost to Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl that year. Then last but not least you have Wake Forest which has been the poster child for mediocrity since I've watched college football.
It seems like the kids from North Carolina also realize the state is a dead end which explains why the top 7 kids committed (#'s 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 14) are poised to head elsewhere. You have to scroll all the way down to the 26th best kid in NC to find someone who wants to play for an instate school.
Then when you look to see what type of talent North Carolina produces you find a state that is perfect for Wisconsin to recruit. The amount of talented RB's that have come out of NC the last two years is absolutely ridiculous.
In 2015 NC produced: Nyheim Hines (5.9), Bryce Love (5.9), Johnny Frasier (5.8), Reggie Gallaspy (5.8) and Rocky Reid (5.7).
In 2016 NC produced: B.J. Emmons (5.8), Antonio Williams (5.8), Jordan Brown (5.8), Robert Washington (5.8) and then another six 3 stars that rate between a 5.5 and 5.7.
There's literally more RB's than quality instate teams for these guys to play for. Another thing that caught my eye about the state of North Carolina is how little offensive lineman the state actually produces. If you look at North Carolina's top 50 player list for 2016 you'll only see 5 lineman rated as 3 stars or better. If a kid from North Carolina wants to play behind an elite offensive line then they're gonna have to look elsewhere. Antonio Williams is a smart kid and mentioned the offensive line at Wisconsin as one of the biggest factors that drove him to Wisconsin.
Basically I'm not expecting the world out of Settle but there's no excuse for him to not to improve or show a little effort this time around. In fact I'll Settle (pun intended) if the guy just attempted to recruit some of these big WR's that NC has to offer. Guys like Ian Boyd (#30 in NC) and Emmanuel Jones (#34 in NC) have the size that is desired at WR and their offer list is very beatable.
This post was edited on 3/3 1:58 PM by Dan Broughton
NC Top 50 2016
The #1 difference is the arrival of a full time recruiting coordinator in a non coaching role. In addition to Ben Strickland the Badgers currently have 3 other coaches (Ingels, Ogelesby and Mehlhaff) who will also help out with the initial stages of a prospects recruitment. You couldn't ask for a better situation for someone who hasn't shown much initiative or effort, as Setttle only has to do is develop a relationship with these kids once they already have an awareness towards Wisconsin.
IMO Settles is the type of coach you have to baby and Wisconsin couldn't do that with the recruiting coordinators they had in his first run. When Settles first started at Madison he was recruiting an area he wasn't familiar with and instead of getting the help he needed from those guys (specifically Doeren and Rudolph) they couldn't because they were too busy pulling the weight for the rest of the team. Dave Doeren was an amazing recruiter but he was also the Co-DC in addition to coaching his position. How much free time did Dave Doeren have to help someone like Settle? The same goes for when Randall McCray took over but he's someone who probably shouldn't have been the RC in the first place. McCray's attempt at recruiting Illinois is what made every Badger fan so sour about that area. Then last you had Joe Rudolph who was responsible for 6 or 7 commits every year by himself. how much more could you really expect out of the guy?
Another thing that will help Settle this time around is how this staff recruits as a TEAM. I've never seen a staff recruit like this in that they don't target a lot of kids but the ones they do target they go after together. For instance Auston Robertson and Ben Skowronek just came on a visit and are now getting recruited by 8 members of the staff on twitter! The same goes for David Reese who visited the same day and he's got 6 different staff members in his ear on twitter. With this type of group recruiting it makes up for having a potential weak link as well as covers the school in case of any staff turnover that has hit Wisconsin so hard in recent years.
Another big thing for Settles this time around is that he will be recruiting an area he's familiar with and an area that has a raised awareness for what Wisconsin has to offer. Settle is coming into a situation with a 4 star RB already committed to the program and has another 4 star player (LB Julian Okwara) that has been reaching out the staff for quite some time now. All the leg work has been done after Russell Wilson exploded onto the scene a few years ago. Everyone in North Carolina and especially the NC State fans know what he was able to accomplish at Wisconsin and subsequently what type of school and program Wisconsin is. Throw in a state that doesn't have any powerhouses at the moment and you have the potential to be a very fertile recruiting zone. Take a look at the 4 instate teams in P5 conferences and it's not pretty. North Carolina is in the middle of an academic scandal and recruits are thinking twice about heading there. NC State is a program that is doing nice but every time a recruit looks into Dave Doeren, Matt Canada or Eddie Faulkner they also raise their awareness towards Wisconsin. Duke is on the come up but they haven't had any long sustained period of success. Some Duke fans still look back at the 1994 season as one of the schools biggest highlights for football and they lost to Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl that year. Then last but not least you have Wake Forest which has been the poster child for mediocrity since I've watched college football.
It seems like the kids from North Carolina also realize the state is a dead end which explains why the top 7 kids committed (#'s 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 14) are poised to head elsewhere. You have to scroll all the way down to the 26th best kid in NC to find someone who wants to play for an instate school.
Then when you look to see what type of talent North Carolina produces you find a state that is perfect for Wisconsin to recruit. The amount of talented RB's that have come out of NC the last two years is absolutely ridiculous.
In 2015 NC produced: Nyheim Hines (5.9), Bryce Love (5.9), Johnny Frasier (5.8), Reggie Gallaspy (5.8) and Rocky Reid (5.7).
In 2016 NC produced: B.J. Emmons (5.8), Antonio Williams (5.8), Jordan Brown (5.8), Robert Washington (5.8) and then another six 3 stars that rate between a 5.5 and 5.7.
There's literally more RB's than quality instate teams for these guys to play for. Another thing that caught my eye about the state of North Carolina is how little offensive lineman the state actually produces. If you look at North Carolina's top 50 player list for 2016 you'll only see 5 lineman rated as 3 stars or better. If a kid from North Carolina wants to play behind an elite offensive line then they're gonna have to look elsewhere. Antonio Williams is a smart kid and mentioned the offensive line at Wisconsin as one of the biggest factors that drove him to Wisconsin.
Basically I'm not expecting the world out of Settle but there's no excuse for him to not to improve or show a little effort this time around. In fact I'll Settle (pun intended) if the guy just attempted to recruit some of these big WR's that NC has to offer. Guys like Ian Boyd (#30 in NC) and Emmanuel Jones (#34 in NC) have the size that is desired at WR and their offer list is very beatable.
This post was edited on 3/3 1:58 PM by Dan Broughton
NC Top 50 2016
