All Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers weekly recruiting rundown (July 24)

An overview of the news from this week in Wisconsin football and men's basketball recruiting.

Matt Belz

In this story:

Recruiting never stops, and this week once again brought about some significant movement on the recruiting trail for the Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball teams.

Contents

  1. Basketball: Wisconsin offers forward Royce Parham
  2. Basketball: Gus Yalden has huge performance at Peach Jam
  3. Football: UW misses on Tack Curtis & Joe Crocker  
  4. Football: Wisconsin offers 2023 LB Blake Nichelson
  5. Football: Badgers make Braeden Marshall's top-3

The football team made a new scholarship offer to a four-star linebacker and an important top-three, but also missed on two of the team's top overall targets in the 2023 class. The men's basketball team made a new scholarship offer to a 2024 forward out of Pennsylvania, while a current commit put together a huge weekend on the AAU circuit. 

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

Basketball: Wisconsin offers forward Royce Parham

Greg Gard and the Wisconsin coaching staff hit the road this past weekend, seeing some of the top players in the country participating in the AAU circuit. 

One player that the staff had the chance to see was Pennsylvania forward Royce Parham. 

Excited by his play during the July evaluation period, the staff became the latest school to offer the 2024 standout from North Hills High School. 

At 6-foot-8 and around 200 pounds, Parham can play either power forward or small forward at the college level, and as a result, teams have started to take notice of Parham.

Duquesne, George Mason, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Robert Morris, Rutgers, TCU, VCU, and Xavier have also offered Parham, at this time. 

The Badgers are still looking for their first commitment in the 2024 recruiting class. 

You can check out some recent highlights of him from June below. 

Basketball: Gus Yalden has huge performance at Peach Jam

Wisconsin 2023 commit Gus Yalden had a huge week on the AAU circuit with CityRocks Basketball, scoring 35 points and 17 rebounds in a come-from-behind win during the Nike Peach Jam. 

The performance gave a glimpse of why Yalden was such a highly regarded prospect at the prep level. 

You can check out a couple of different video highlights from his performance below.

Football: UW misses on Tack Curtis & Joe Crocker  

While the basketball news was relatively positive, things were not nearly as great for the football team this week.

Four-star linebacker Tackett Curtis opted to shut down his recruitment and commit to USC after including the Badgers in his final three, while three-star offensive tackle Joe Crocker committed to Mississippi State.

Both players were priority recruits for Wisconsin, and each came on official visits to Madison back in June. The Badgers were top contenders throughout their recruitments, and it was a definite blow to miss out on Curtis and Crocker.

The recruiting losses from this week are just the latest in a tough month of July for the Badgers.

So far, UW has missed on the following players, each of whom came on an official visit and had Wisconsin in their top-3 schools:

  • LB Tackett Curtis - USC
  • TE Zach Ortwerth - Iowa
  • DB Kahlil Tate - Iowa
  • OL Joe Crocker - Mississippi State
  • QB Lincoln Kienholz - Washington

The struggles in July follow a busy in June where the Badgers closed on several other targets. Standing at 13 commits in the 2023 class there is still plenty of room for the class to grow. I would expect the staff to extend some new offers this fall, attempt to flip some committed prospects from other schools, and potentially attack the transfer portal in response to the latest recruiting news. 

Football: Wisconsin offers 2023 LB Blake Nichelson

Still looking to add another outside linebacker to pair with Jordan Mayer after missing out on Tackett Curtis, assistant coach Bobby April wasted little time before offering Blake Nichelson this week.

A four-star linebacker prospect out of California, Nichelson is an explosive athlete that fits Wisconsin's 3-4 defense. The Badgers are working to host him on campus this fall for an official visit, as he is also considering Florida State, Oregon, and UCLA, at this time. 

Needing to make some new maneuvers in the 2023 class, the offer to Nichelson makes a lot of sense, and it will be interesting to see how quickly the Badgers can become a factor in his recruitment. 

You can read our entire breakdown about the offer to Nichelson here.  

Football: Badgers make Braeden Marshall's top-3

Wisconsin will still have a chance to close the month of July with some positive momentum, as four-star cornerback Braeden Marshall will announce his college decision next Saturday.

He recently shared the final three schools in contention for his commitment, and the Badgers notably made the cut. 

North Carolina is still the likeliest choice for Marshall, but perhaps the month will end on a high note for Wisconsin. 

The Badgers are still in the market for another defensive back after Kahlil Tate's commitment to Iowa, and Marshall has been one of the top cornerback targets in the 2023 class for some time. 

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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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