I don't think it can be overstated. Let's be real: recruiting appears to have taken a step back from last year. I know it's early, but our spring visitor list isn't nearly as coveted as last year's. To date, we do not have a verbal from a single composite 4-star, and I think Scott's On3 4-star rating is the only 4 star rating any of our verbals have earned from any recruiting platform. It looks like we may be in the lead for Cam Miller. Are we leading for any other blue chips? Perhaps I'm overreacting and the class starts to look more like the 24's by the end of June. But, for now, I'm going to say that having a bad season and losing half of our assistants (including our best recruiter) are having a substantial impact on recruiting. If the team shits the bed this year, it's going to be exceptionally difficult for Fickell to recruit & maintain the players he needs to get Wisconsin consistently competing as a top-level B1G program. Hopefully our donors agree with my assessment and do what they can to help add some Spring portal enforcements.
In spite of this admittedly glass-half-empty post, I do think we're going to have a nice season and get our recruiting back on track. Go Badgers.
