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Wisconsin football: Examining Luke Fickell's recruiting philosophy

A look at how Luke Fickell has approached recruiting and the transfer portal, with insight from his introductory press conference and his past success at Cincinnati.

Matt Belz

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Luke Fickell has a plan. It's the same plan that helped him elevate the recruiting profile of the Cincinnati football program to one of the best in the Group of 5.

During his introductory press conference, Fickell shared his approach to recruiting and the transfer portal, not shying away from providing transparency about his philosophy.

With an overall goal of playing for championships, Fickell noted that he wants to build the program with high school recruits and use the transfer portal intentionally to fill holes in the roster.

"It's about development with young men. We signed 22, 23, 24 guys in the last three years at Cincinnati," Fickell said when asked about the transfer portal.

In terms of geographic reach, Fickell likes to build inside-out, with a focus on prospects near campus, saying, "within a 300-mile radius, that will be the core of what we do here." That is the same approach that helped Fickell make significant inroads in Indiana, Michigan, and while at Cincinnati.

In fact, Fickell signed over 40% of his recruits from Ohio since 2020, an area that is one of the top states for recruiting in the Midwest and a state where Wisconsin has also found success. For example, under Paul Chryst from 2015 to 2020, Ohio was the second most fertile recruiting area for the Badgers with 11 commits. On the current roster, the Badgers have several notable players on the team, with most already contributors, especially in the defensive front seven, with Darryl Peterson (freshman OLB), Rodas Johnson (junior DE), and Isaiah Mullens (senior DE) all from the state.

From Columbus, Fickell will likely continue to hit the state of Ohio hard on the recruiting front given his extensive ties to the region, but make no mistake, Wisconsin and the Chicago metroplex will probably remain a priority. Fickell had this to say about recruiting near Madison, "I know that as you get into Chicago and the areas where you have done an unbelievable job, there's a lot of roots that have built there. I know that if we can kind of capture that like we did, with that 300-mile radius where the core of the program is, then we can extend to the other areas."

In looking at a 300-mile radius around Madison, there are four metropolitan hubs: Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, and the Twin Cities in Minnesota, all four of which have been good to Wisconsin at various times in the history of the program. Additionally, the 300-mile radius pulls in areas of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio, meaning that the Midwest will be a major focus.

However, keeping in-state kids home will always be the No. 1 focus for any coach in the Badger state, and that is an area where Wisconsin faltered a bit in the 2022 cycle under Paul Chryst. The Badgers missed on three of the top five players inside the state (all four-star recruits).

With a large and talented 2024 group inside the state, Fickell's 300-mile radius will be put to the test. Wisconsin fans would love to keep all of the top in-state prospects at home. Without some of the built-in relationships in the state that he previously had in Ohio, it will be fascinating to see if he chooses to keep any assistants on staff to maintain that presence. For example, defensive coach Ross Kolodziej, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, and recruiting coordinator Mickey Turner could all bring value to in-state recruiting based on their experience and ties to Wisconsin.

Multiple reports state that Fickell will bring Cincinnati's Director of Recruiting, Pat Lambert, and Director of Recruiting Strategy, Max Stienecker, to help him. Those individuals will play a key role in helping strategize and build Wisconsin's recruiting board going forward, within and outside the 300-mile radius. Fickell and Wisconsin have each found success in regions beyond the Midwest, meaning that fertile recruiting areas such as California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas, that Wisconsin has found success in will not go away either.

In the immediate, Fickell told media members that the 2023 recruiting class is the "No. 1 priority" with "a short time" before the early signing day during his first press conference. We would continue by saying, "we're excited about getting out on the road to see those guys and build a relationship, we hope we can sustain each and every one of those guys" when asked about the nine current commits in Wisconsin's class, but he also mentioned that he and his staff "will continue to push forward" to add further players to the class as well.

With several talented players previously committed to him at Cincinnati, it will be worth monitoring to see if he can convince any to join him at Wisconsin in the coming weeks, and Fickell is already welcoming a pair of tight ends to campus on Saturday for official visits.

As mentioned earlier, Fickell wants to focus his energy on high school prospects. However, that does not mean that he is totally against filling gaps in the transfer portal.

With many Cincinnati players already leaving the program, including multiple starters from a year ago, Fickell will likely pursue some of his former players after building a relationship with them over the past few years.

But Fickell made it clear in his introductory press conference that in an ideal world he will only go after transfers when needed and if they are a perfect fit, saying, "we've had literally a matrix that says they've got to hit these points and these situations, and these things. Because the last thing I want to do is bring in a guy to our program, here in particular, that's going to mess with the culture."

Fickell would elaborate by saying, "in my mind, it's got to be the right fit" and that "the thing with transfers is sometimes you don't know, you don't have the opportunity like you did in high school to get to know them, to be in their home."

With the transfer portal window opening up on December 5 and the early signing period drawing closer as well, Fickell is still putting together a coaching staff, but how he reshapes the roster between now and Wisconsin's home-opener against Buffalo on September 2 of 2023 will be incredibly important and a fun component to the off-season to watch. 

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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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