All Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers weekly recruiting rundown (November 18)

An overview of the news from this week in football recruiting for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Matt Belz

In this story:

The past week has provided plenty of significant recruiting updates for the Wisconsin football team. 

With new offers going out, official visits upcoming, and a plethora of updates on current 2023 commits, there is plenty to cover.

In an attempt to provide an overview of everything that happened during the past seven days, here is the weekly recruiting rundown.

Contents

  1. Wisconsin offers 2024 athlete Joshua Clarke
  2. Kahlil Ali schedules an official visit to UW
  3. Jamel Howard and Collin Dixon decommit 
  4. Wisconsin offers defensive lineman Rodney Lora
  5. Wisconsin commit Trey Pierce visiting Michigan
  6. 2024 commit Austin Alexander adds a new offer

Wisconsin offers 2024 athlete Joshua Clarke

Following a two-day recruiting visit earlier this week, three-star athlete Joshua Clarke out of Alexandria (Virginia) earned an offer from the Badgers. From the Flint Hill School, Clark is a talented young defensive back and wide wide receiver with excellent size at 6-foot-1 and a little over 170 pounds. 

Wisconsin joins a host of schools in contention for the two-way star, as Clarke also holds Power-5 offers from Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. 

You can check out some junior highlights of Clarke in action below. 

Kahlil Ali schedules an official visit to UW

Three-star safety Kahlil Ali announced on Twitter that he will take an official visit to Madison for the Minnesota game on November 25. 

A former Boston College commit, Ali is considered the No. 52 safety in the country by 247 Sports and the No. 11 player in New Jersey for the senior class. 

Looking for a new home after stepping away from his original commitment on October 31, Ali is a supremely talented defensive back that the Badgers were heavily involved with prior to his pledge to BC. 

Also a basketball and track star, Ali is a stellar athlete from Pennsauken High School in New Jersey, a state where cornerbacks coach Hank Poteat has extensive connections. 

The trip to Madison will be Ali's final possible official visit and the first since his decommitment in October. Ali previously took visits over the summer to Boston College, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Pittsburgh. In addition to those four schools, Ali holds Power-5 scholarship opportunities from Florida State, Illinois, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, and West Virginia.  

With scholarships open, Ali would represent a big addition for the Badgers if Jim Leonhard and the staff can close out his recruitment. 

You can watch his senior highlights below. 

Jamel Howard and Collin Dixon decommit 

The Badgers lost a pair of important recruits on Thursday, as defensive tackle Jamel Howard and wide receiver Collin Dixon each backed away from their commitments within hours.

Wisconsin has now lost three total commits since Paul Chryst's firing, and the 2023 recruiting class stands at 11 members now. 

While both players will still consider the Badgers over the next month, the fact that they opened up their recruitments is tough news for the 2023 class. 

You can read our entire breakdown of Howard and Dixon's decision here. 

Wisconsin offers defensive lineman Rodney Lora

Shortly after Jamel Howard's decommitment, Ross Kolodziej and the Wisconsin staff quickly sent out a new defensive line offer in the 2023 cycle to Rodey Lora of Woodberry Forest High School in Virginia.

Previously committed to Virginia, Lora opened his recruitment up in late September, and the Badgers should be a major threat for the three-star defensive lineman. 

Rated as the No. 98 defensive lineman in the country and the No. 21 player in his state by the 247 Sports Composite, the 6-foot-4 athlete previously took official visits to Rutgers and Virginia over the summer. 

In addition to Wisconsin, Lora also boasts scholarship offers from Boston College, Duke, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and West Virginia among others. 

It will be interesting to see if Wisconsin can quickly get Lora on campus for an official visit against Minnesota, as this is clearly a response to losing out on Howard. 

Wisconsin commit Trey Pierce visiting Michigan

After losing one Chicago defensive line commit on Thursday, the Badgers could be in danger of losing another in the near future. 2023 commit Roderick "Trey" Pierce will make a return trip to Michigan for an official visit this weekend. He has added several scholarship offers over the past few weeks, and he is checking out other options with Jim Leonhard's future still up in the air at this moment. 

Pierce is good friends with Jamel Howard and is one of Wisconsin's top recruits in the 2023 cycle. The Badgers are fighting to keep Pierce committed at this time, but with new offers from Auburn, Michigan State, and Texas, schools are circling him lately.

2024 commit Austin Alexander adds a new offer

Committing to Wisconsin on October 31, Austin Alexander kickstarted the Badgers 2024 class in a big way. 

On Thursday, the three-star cornerback picked up a new scholarship offer from Nebraska. 

While there does not appear to be any worry of Alexander changing his mind so quickly, he will likely continue to add scholarships in the next few months after making an early commitment to UW. 

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Matt Belz
MATT BELZ

Title: Publisher, Beat Writer for AllBadgers.com, a Sports Illustrated Channel Hello, my name is Matt Belz, and I am the site manager at All Badgers. I previously wrote for multiple years at Buckeyes 5th Quarter and have been the leading publisher here since March of 2022.  When I am not covering the Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball teams, I enjoy being outside and spending time with family and friends.  You can follow everything I write about on several different platforms. First and foremost on our site...AllBadgers.com You can follow me personally on Twitter at @savedbythebelz or check out our Facebook page at Wisconsin FanNation on Sports Illustrated.

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