Badgers trying to land the No. 1 punter in the country and he's from Wisconsin

Erik Schmidt attends Marquette University (high school) in Milwaukee.

Marquette place kicker Erik Schmidt (18) kicks a field goal against Arrowhead in a game Thursday, August 17, 2023, at Hart Park in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. / Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal

Punters have always carried value but not to the level of Tory Taylor at Iowa, who was arguably the Hawkeyes' MVP in 2023 before being drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Bears.

While teams have always put an emphasis on having strong special teams, Taylor's level of effectiveness at Iowa, which went to the Big Ten championship game despite a terrible offense in 2023, might give recruiters more reason to find the next Tory Taylor.

Enter the Wisconsin Badgers, who are recruiting the No. 1 punter in the country who just so happens to be in their back yard. Erik Schmidt, who hails from Milwaukee and attends Marquette University High School, is ranked the No. 1 punter in the country by Kohl's Professional Camp, which is the most esteemed outlet for kickers in the nation.

Ironically, the family that started Kohl's Professional Camp is from Wisconsin, and the camps were where rookie Minnesota Vikings kicker, Will Reichard, was discovered before becoming one of college football's greatest kickers at Alabama.

Schmidt is a kicking machine. Check out his scouting report from Kohl's.

Schmidt competed at Kohl's Midwest Showcase and hit a kickoff that went 91 yards and had 4.34 seconds of hang-time! He is a D1 punter and has the ability to kick field goals, punt, and kickoff at the Power Five level. Schmidt is a special talent and has a bright future in college. At a December 2023 Showcase Camp, he scored 116.78 points in punting. He had many punts travel over 50 yards in the air during the charting session. He earned an invite to the Underclassman Challenge in January with his strong performance at camp. Schmidt also recently competed at the National Scholarship Camp in July of 2023. He led the camp with a final punt score of 112.6 points. He was also dominant on kick-offs scoring 116.37 points. His field goals were solid as he scored 27 points. He is clearly a D1 talent. At the Underclassman Challenge in January of 2023, he competed very well in the competitions vs the top 2024 players in the country. Schmidt scored 14 points on field goals, 106.53 points on kick-offs, and 104.3 points on his punts. In December of 2022 and showed again he is ahead of his age on FG's, Kick-offs, and Punts. In July of 2022, he made 26/36 points on field goals and hit a 69-yard 3.9 second hang-time kickoff. Schmidt has consistently been in our top 10 as both a kicker and punter. Schmidt has rare power and consistency for someone his age, a talent that should take him very far as he continues to train and develop over the coming years!

- Kohl's Professional Camp

According to 247Sports, Schmidt has not yet been offered a full scholarship by Wisconsin whereas Notre Dame and Missouri have offered. If Schmidt chooses to stay home and punt for the Badgers, he would conceivably have an opportunity to compete for the job against incumbent punter Atticus Bertrams, who averaged 41.3 yards per punt as a true freshman in 2023.

Taylor, by the way, was so good at Iowa that he owns NCAA records for average yards per punt (46.3) in a career and single-season yards per punt (48.2 in 2023). Even more impressive is that he did it while punting an absurd 93 times in 2023 as the Iowa offense was one of the worst in the country.