Inside Craig Watts’ decommitment
Wisconsin lost its highest-ranked pledge (along with fellow 5.8 four-star Antonio Williams) in the 2016 class Friday evening when Craig Watts backed away from his commitment to the Badgers.
“Wisconsin was my first real trip,” Watts communicated through Twitter. “I decommitted to enjoy the process of my senior year. My plan was to commit at the end of the summer to begin with. Wisconsin is a great place, I just need to be 100%.”
There’s a lot of truth to what Watts penned on social media. The 5-foot-10, 181-pound prospect from Florida, according to sources close to his recruitment, indicated a desire to take additional visits to the numerous schools on his offer sheet. The Wisconsin coaching staff was not in favor of this, though they did allow him to take a pre-planned trip to Colorado following his pledge. Ultimately, the two sides went their separate ways.
This “no visit” rule is something that will likely be a pillar of Paul Chryst’s recruiting philosophy at UW, at least for the immediate future. Noah Burks shed some light on this when he committed to Wisconsin in June.
“I'm locked down," Burks told BadgerBlitz.com. "That was something the coaching staff let me know when I committed here, that there won't be any more unofficials or officials, but I knew this is what I was getting in to and I wanted to be a Badger.”
So where does Wisconsin go from here? As we indicated in last week’s Whispers edition, Maryland defensive back Patrick Johnson is still expected to commit to the Badgers later this month. The three-star prospect would join Seth Currens as projected safeties in the 2016 class. As far as Watts, it’s highly unlikely he resurfaces on Wisconsin’s radar.
First hoops evaluation period
The first evaluation period ended Sunday at 5:00 PM. The Wisconsin coaching staff, which is in a tricky recruiting situation with Bo Ryan entering his final year as head coach, was split up as follows:
Ryan and Lamont Paris were in Atlanta at the adidas Uprising Gauntlet Event. Senior point guard Payton Pritchard, who recently backed away from his pledge to Oklahoma, was Wisconsin’s top target amongst a very good field of talent. Four-star power forward Nick Rakocevic, who has the Badgers in his top group, was also at the event, as well as Kobe King, arguably the top in-state talent in the 2017 class.
Associate head coach Greg Gard was at the Big Shots event in Myrtle Beach. Prior to that, he was at an Under Armour event that featured four-star point guard Ja’Quori McLaughlin, among others.
Gary Close was at the NY2LA event in Mequon. This field didn’t include a ton of Wisconsin targets, but 2017 in-staters Owen Hamilton and Bennett Vander Plas, among others, did receive some attention.
Insight from Zack Miller
The Wisconsin coaching staff has not been in contact with 2016 point guard Te'Jon Lucas "in a long time," he told BadgerBlitz.com. It appears the Badgers are locked in on either Pritchard or McLaughlin for the 2016 PG slot.
Both, it would appear, are in favor of Gard taking over the program.
"I've watched them (Wisconsin) a lot," McLaughlin told Rivals.com. "I thought that they were a much slower team but they actually play with some speed.
"Assistant coach Greg Gard, if he's the coach there I'm still interested in them."
With one scholarship still technically available in the 2015 class, a source close to Maverick Rowan told BadgerBlitz.com this week that even when Wisconsin was listed in Rowan's top 6 and top 3, "he was never going to Wisconsin." So Rowan choosing not to include UW in his new top 4 is not a reflection of the uncertainty with the future of the head coaching position, but simply an inevitable step in Rowan's recruitment.
The Badgers currently have just one scholarship to work with in the 2016 class, but that could change if Nigel Hayes elects to go pro. Furthermore, we’re hearing there could be a transfer is the works, though nothing is guaranteed at this point.
The second evaluation period begins on July 15 and runs through July 19.
Coaching search chatter
Ryan clearly wants Gard to take over the Wisconsin program. There’s no debate there. But we do have plenty of time to speculate on who some other candidates are for athletic director Barry Alvarez.
Virginia’s Tony Bennett was a popular name because of his connections to the state and school. But amongst college coaches gathered together at AAU tournaments across the country this week, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson was a popular name. Clearly this was just casual chatter, but Jacobson, who has a 197–105 record at UNI, would be an attractive option for Alvarez during his anticipated national search.
In March 2010, Jacobson signed a 10-year extension with UNI. The contract guarantees the coach $450,000 a year with annual increases of $25,000 through the length of the contract.
More on the receivers
Wisconsin’s top receiver target, four-star A.J. Taylor, is still expected to announce on Aug. 1. Talking to sources, the Badgers are expected to take two receivers in this class, one slot and one vertical threat. Wisconsin and Missouri are the two big players in Taylor’s recruitment.
While Taylor is clearly the top slot option, we’re told Lil’Jordan Humphrey has emerged as the top target opposite. The three-star athlete from Texas plans on visiting Wednesday and is an absolute take for UW and position coach Ted Gilmore.
The Badgers are also taking a long look at Northern Illinois commit Jahcour Pearson, among others, should Taylor go elsewhere.
Badgers in Chicago — from John Veldhuis
With less than eight weeks to go until the start of the season, senior quarterback Joel Stave looks entrenched at the top of Wisconsin's depth chart. That shouldn't come as a surprise given Chryst's comments at the start of spring camp, but the Badgers also decided to bring Stave to the Big Ten media days at the end of July.
Stave's up and down history as the starter has many Wisconsin fans hoping to see a younger quarterback beat him out for the starting job in fall camp, but holding Stave up as one of the program's most visible players (along with Michael Caputo and Corey Clement) leads us to believe that the Badgers are not expecting to see mush of a quarterback battle this fall.
Keep an eye on inside linebacker
Dallas Jeanty is still very much committed to Wisconsin. But he’s the only verbal in the current class who has yet to make it to campus. While the three-star prospect is working towards an unofficial, the coaching staff is still keeping the door open at the position.
We touched base with Tavante Beckett earlier this week and the three-star prospect is working on a trip to Madison — he’s looking for flights because he doesn’t want to make the long drive. And as we mentioned in last week’s report, sources close to Beckett, who has a top two of UW and Virginia Tech, have indicated he will commit to the Badgers during his visit if given the chance.
So is it a race to Madison between Beckett and Jeanty? It’s still too early to give a concrete answer there and this class probably has room for two linebackers on the inside. But one thing seems certain: Dave Aranda’s position group is not yet settled in the current cycle.
Preston ready to commit
Three-star defensive end Keldric Preston will announce this week. The Badgers, led by coordinator Dave Aranda, are very much in the mix after after a good visit in June. Miami is considered the favorite, but Wisconsin is absolutely a contender for his services.
Other big visitors coming up week
With the dead period coming to an end, Wisconsin will host two other big targets this week: defensive tackle Garrett Rand and cornerback K.J. Sails. Both are high-priority prospects for the coaching staff.
The Badgers could very well lead for Sails while Rand, a four-star prospect from Arizona who has family in the area, will be much tougher to land.
Note: Please keep all insider information from this report inside the Badgers’ Den
Wisconsin lost its highest-ranked pledge (along with fellow 5.8 four-star Antonio Williams) in the 2016 class Friday evening when Craig Watts backed away from his commitment to the Badgers.
“Wisconsin was my first real trip,” Watts communicated through Twitter. “I decommitted to enjoy the process of my senior year. My plan was to commit at the end of the summer to begin with. Wisconsin is a great place, I just need to be 100%.”
There’s a lot of truth to what Watts penned on social media. The 5-foot-10, 181-pound prospect from Florida, according to sources close to his recruitment, indicated a desire to take additional visits to the numerous schools on his offer sheet. The Wisconsin coaching staff was not in favor of this, though they did allow him to take a pre-planned trip to Colorado following his pledge. Ultimately, the two sides went their separate ways.
This “no visit” rule is something that will likely be a pillar of Paul Chryst’s recruiting philosophy at UW, at least for the immediate future. Noah Burks shed some light on this when he committed to Wisconsin in June.
“I'm locked down," Burks told BadgerBlitz.com. "That was something the coaching staff let me know when I committed here, that there won't be any more unofficials or officials, but I knew this is what I was getting in to and I wanted to be a Badger.”
So where does Wisconsin go from here? As we indicated in last week’s Whispers edition, Maryland defensive back Patrick Johnson is still expected to commit to the Badgers later this month. The three-star prospect would join Seth Currens as projected safeties in the 2016 class. As far as Watts, it’s highly unlikely he resurfaces on Wisconsin’s radar.
First hoops evaluation period
The first evaluation period ended Sunday at 5:00 PM. The Wisconsin coaching staff, which is in a tricky recruiting situation with Bo Ryan entering his final year as head coach, was split up as follows:
Ryan and Lamont Paris were in Atlanta at the adidas Uprising Gauntlet Event. Senior point guard Payton Pritchard, who recently backed away from his pledge to Oklahoma, was Wisconsin’s top target amongst a very good field of talent. Four-star power forward Nick Rakocevic, who has the Badgers in his top group, was also at the event, as well as Kobe King, arguably the top in-state talent in the 2017 class.
Associate head coach Greg Gard was at the Big Shots event in Myrtle Beach. Prior to that, he was at an Under Armour event that featured four-star point guard Ja’Quori McLaughlin, among others.
Gary Close was at the NY2LA event in Mequon. This field didn’t include a ton of Wisconsin targets, but 2017 in-staters Owen Hamilton and Bennett Vander Plas, among others, did receive some attention.
Insight from Zack Miller
The Wisconsin coaching staff has not been in contact with 2016 point guard Te'Jon Lucas "in a long time," he told BadgerBlitz.com. It appears the Badgers are locked in on either Pritchard or McLaughlin for the 2016 PG slot.
Both, it would appear, are in favor of Gard taking over the program.
"I've watched them (Wisconsin) a lot," McLaughlin told Rivals.com. "I thought that they were a much slower team but they actually play with some speed.
"Assistant coach Greg Gard, if he's the coach there I'm still interested in them."
With one scholarship still technically available in the 2015 class, a source close to Maverick Rowan told BadgerBlitz.com this week that even when Wisconsin was listed in Rowan's top 6 and top 3, "he was never going to Wisconsin." So Rowan choosing not to include UW in his new top 4 is not a reflection of the uncertainty with the future of the head coaching position, but simply an inevitable step in Rowan's recruitment.
The Badgers currently have just one scholarship to work with in the 2016 class, but that could change if Nigel Hayes elects to go pro. Furthermore, we’re hearing there could be a transfer is the works, though nothing is guaranteed at this point.
The second evaluation period begins on July 15 and runs through July 19.
Coaching search chatter
Ryan clearly wants Gard to take over the Wisconsin program. There’s no debate there. But we do have plenty of time to speculate on who some other candidates are for athletic director Barry Alvarez.
Virginia’s Tony Bennett was a popular name because of his connections to the state and school. But amongst college coaches gathered together at AAU tournaments across the country this week, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson was a popular name. Clearly this was just casual chatter, but Jacobson, who has a 197–105 record at UNI, would be an attractive option for Alvarez during his anticipated national search.
In March 2010, Jacobson signed a 10-year extension with UNI. The contract guarantees the coach $450,000 a year with annual increases of $25,000 through the length of the contract.
More on the receivers
Wisconsin’s top receiver target, four-star A.J. Taylor, is still expected to announce on Aug. 1. Talking to sources, the Badgers are expected to take two receivers in this class, one slot and one vertical threat. Wisconsin and Missouri are the two big players in Taylor’s recruitment.
While Taylor is clearly the top slot option, we’re told Lil’Jordan Humphrey has emerged as the top target opposite. The three-star athlete from Texas plans on visiting Wednesday and is an absolute take for UW and position coach Ted Gilmore.
The Badgers are also taking a long look at Northern Illinois commit Jahcour Pearson, among others, should Taylor go elsewhere.
Badgers in Chicago — from John Veldhuis
With less than eight weeks to go until the start of the season, senior quarterback Joel Stave looks entrenched at the top of Wisconsin's depth chart. That shouldn't come as a surprise given Chryst's comments at the start of spring camp, but the Badgers also decided to bring Stave to the Big Ten media days at the end of July.
Stave's up and down history as the starter has many Wisconsin fans hoping to see a younger quarterback beat him out for the starting job in fall camp, but holding Stave up as one of the program's most visible players (along with Michael Caputo and Corey Clement) leads us to believe that the Badgers are not expecting to see mush of a quarterback battle this fall.
Keep an eye on inside linebacker
Dallas Jeanty is still very much committed to Wisconsin. But he’s the only verbal in the current class who has yet to make it to campus. While the three-star prospect is working towards an unofficial, the coaching staff is still keeping the door open at the position.
We touched base with Tavante Beckett earlier this week and the three-star prospect is working on a trip to Madison — he’s looking for flights because he doesn’t want to make the long drive. And as we mentioned in last week’s report, sources close to Beckett, who has a top two of UW and Virginia Tech, have indicated he will commit to the Badgers during his visit if given the chance.
So is it a race to Madison between Beckett and Jeanty? It’s still too early to give a concrete answer there and this class probably has room for two linebackers on the inside. But one thing seems certain: Dave Aranda’s position group is not yet settled in the current cycle.
Preston ready to commit
Three-star defensive end Keldric Preston will announce this week. The Badgers, led by coordinator Dave Aranda, are very much in the mix after after a good visit in June. Miami is considered the favorite, but Wisconsin is absolutely a contender for his services.
Other big visitors coming up week
With the dead period coming to an end, Wisconsin will host two other big targets this week: defensive tackle Garrett Rand and cornerback K.J. Sails. Both are high-priority prospects for the coaching staff.
The Badgers could very well lead for Sails while Rand, a four-star prospect from Arizona who has family in the area, will be much tougher to land.
Note: Please keep all insider information from this report inside the Badgers’ Den
