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Wisconsin football: Recruiting and transfer portal updates (12/9)

Head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers have been extremely active this week in both 2023 recruiting and the transfer portal.

Matt Belz

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Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell has been a busy man the past two weeks since his hiring. Not only has he begun the process of finalizing his 2023 coaching staff, but he has also jumped right in on recruiting and the transfer portal in an attempt to transform the roster. 

With so much happening in the transfer portal and on the recruiting front, we figured it was time to put together a recap of the week to aggregate everything and lay out the news in one post.

Here is your recruiting and transfer portal rundown.

Contents

  1. Fickell visits in-state high schools
  2. Huge official visit weekend on tap
  3. Wisconsin offers a pair of former Cincinnati commits
  4. Wisconsin reoffers WR Trech Kekahuna
  5. In-home visits and recruiting staff
  6. UNC Transfer quarterback visiting Madison
  7. New preferred walk-on commitment
  8. Markus Allen coming back to UW
  9. Wisconsin loses several transfers and decommits

Fickell visits in-state high schools

Luke Fickell stated during his introductory press conference that he intends to prioritize the Wisconsin and the surrounding states in recruiting. He backed that up over the weekend, spending his first few days on the road meeting with local recruits and high school coaches. 

Fickell made stops at several noteworthy high schools in the state, especially those with high-level prospects in the 2024 recruiting class such as Catholic Memorial, Middleton, Mukwanago, and Waunakee. 

This initial move was a welcomed sight for in-state coaches and early impressions seem very positive. 

Huge official visit weekend on tap

While the weather could alter some visit plans, the Wisconsin Badgers are scheduled to have a large recruiting weekend upcoming this Saturday with double-digit recruits coming to campus for official visits. 

As of now, the following players are expected to come:

  • Four-star safety Braedyn Moore

A former Cincinnati commit, the Badgers and Luke Fickell have quickly gotten back involved since his decommitment from the Bearcats. An Army All-American, Moore is one of the top visitors of the weekend. With offers from Boston College, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia, Moore is the No. 11 player in the state of Ohio by the 247 Sports Composite and name to watch over the next week. 

  • Three-star cornerback Jonas Duclona

Like Braedyn Moore, Jonas Duclona is a talented defensive back that was previously committed to Cincinnati. From the same high school as Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi, the Badgers are expected to be a big threat for the Florida native, who is also committed to play in the Army All-American Bowl. A tremendous athlete, Duclona has other offers from Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, and West Virginia, among others. With UW losing three cornerbacks, Duclona could help improve the depth and talent level at the position. 

  • Three-star tight end Tucker Ashcraft

Ashcraft backed away from his commitment to Colorado this past week and he is now scheduled to visit Wisconsin this weekend after backing up his visit plans from a week ago. The Seattle (Washington) product is a rising prospect in the recruiting ranks and possesses good size at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds. The Badgers could be the favorite now, though he does hold additional offers from Michigan State and Washington State. 

  • Three-star linebacker Christian Alliegro

From a prep school in Connecticut, 6-foot-3 linebacker Christian Alliegro is an intriguing player who is reportedly coming this weekend per his 247 Sports profile. 

With good size and a ton of twitch off the edge, Alliegro actually earned an offer from the previous staff, but Luke Fickell is still after him since the coaching change. 

Alliegro was at Wake Forest a week ago for an official visit and will also head to Minnesota on December 16. We will see if the Badgers can move the needle with Alliegro this weekend. 

  • Three-star defensive tackle Jamel Howard

A former Wisconsin commit, Howard has seen his recruitment take off over the past month, but the Badgers have consistently been in the mix for his services despite reopening his recruitment back on November 17. Luke Fickell's odd-front defense make the nose tackle position incredibly important, and Howard is by far Wisconsin top option on the board. He has added offers from LSU, Michigan, and Ole Miss recently, so he has no shortage of options. 

The commits...

  • Four-star cornerback Jace Arnold (current UW commit)
  • Three-star running back Nate White (current UW commit)
  • Three-star linebacker Tyler Jansey (current UW commit)
  • Three-star safety Justin Taylor (current UW commit)
  • Three-star outside linebacker Jordan Mayer (current UW commit)
  • Three-star quarterback Cole LaCrue (current UW commit)

Wisconsin is also expecting six of their current commits on campus this weekend. For quarterback Coel LaCrue this is his first official visit to Madison, while the other five players are making return trips thanks to a special condition from the coaching change. Having this core group on campus should only help the Badgers with some of the uncommitted players they are after to close out their class. 

Wisconsin offers a pair of former Cincinnati commits

Several players previously committed to Cincinnati made the decision to back away from their pledge to the Bearcats after Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin. The Badgers and Fickell's staff have wasted little time reconnecting with many of these prospects, and multiple are set to visit UW this weekend. 

On Wednesday, the Badgers offered former Cincinnati commit Khamari Anderson and re-offered cornerback Amare Snowden. 

Anderson is a three-star tight end out of Cass Tech in Detroit (Mich.), and has no shortage of interest since reopening his recruitment last week. Wisconsin has now thrown their hat into the ring, and it will be interesting to see if Luke Fickell can get him on campus in the near future. Anderson will take an official visit to Kentucky this weekend, and he also holds offers from Alabama, Auburn, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, USC, and Washington as well. At 6-foot-4 he is set to participate in the Under Armour All-American Game in January and he is a talented playmaker with the ball in his hands. 

Amare Snowden previously had Wisconsin in his final six schools before committing to Cincinnati, and attended a spring practice in Madison earlier this year. With most of the coaching staff he committed to on campus now with Luke Fickell, Snowden is another supremely talented athlete that the Badgers are after. 

Snowden possesses great length for the cornerback position at 6-foot-3 and he is tremendous athlete that also plays baseball. With additional offers from Arkansas, Boston College, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Syracuse, and West Virginia. 

The four-star corner is scheduled to officially visit West Virginia this weekend and the biggest question for Wisconsin going forward is can they quickly get him on campus for a visit as well?

Wisconsin reoffers WR Trech Kekahuna

With new offensive coordinator Phil Longo joining Luke Fickell and company, the Badgers are still looking to add wide receivers to their 2023 recruiting class. 

It appears as though former Wisconsin commit Trech Kekahuna is still a viable option for the Badgers. Kekahuna took to Twitter to announce that he was reoffered by UW and new wide receivers coach Mike Brown. While Brown's role is not yet official, it has been reported previously that he will be the new position coach, and Kekahuna tagged Brown in his Tweet. 

Since decommitting from the Badgers back in early November, Kekahuna made a return trip to Madison two weeks ago, and there appears to still be mutual interest. 

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In-home visits and recruiting staff

In addition to visiting the majority of current 2023 commits, Wisconsin has been sending coaches and recruiting staff members to many uncommitted players as well. One of the main coaches on the road has been Max Stienecker, who was previously Luke Fickell's Director of Recruiting Strategy at Cincinnati. He appears to hold a similar role at UW now, and he has been busy visiting recruits. Some of players he has visited over the past week include Khamari Anderson (three-star tight end) and Braedyn Moore (four-star safety).

UNC Transfer quarterback visiting Madison

Multiple reports have surfaced, include one from Colten Bartholomew of the Wisconsin State Journal, that former North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell will visit UW next weekend. With North Carolina's offensive coordinator in line to join Luke Fickell, Criswell is familiar with the offensive system and is a former four-star recruit that can both throw and run the ball. 

From the state of Arkansas, he has ties to the Razorbacks, so it will be fascinating to see how big of draw playing with his former offensive coordinator would be in this process. 

Looking to join a school in January for the second semester, the Badgers could make a ton of sense for Criswell who was stuck behind UNC star Drake Maye, but is a high-upside player that possesses a strong arm and a physical running style. 

New preferred walk-on commitment

On Friday, the Wisconsin staff added a big walk-on commit, both literally and figuratively. 6-foot-9 offensive tackle Peyton Lange of Minnehaha Academy (Minn.) pledged his commitment to the Badgers. 

A routine visitor for Wisconsin the past two seasons, Lange is another quality walk-on addition and he has the size to immediately look the part as a Big Ten offensive lineman. 

Lange was receiving plenty of Power 5 interest across the Midwest, but does not hold any FBS offers at the time of his commitment. 

Markus Allen coming back to UW

Wisconsin received a rather significant addition on Thursday, as wide receiver Markus Allen decided to exit the transfer portal and return to UW in 2023. The former four-star receiver initially committed to Minnesota after Paul Chryst's firing, but he will indeed be back. 

You can read All Badgers' entire article on the news here. 

Wisconsin loses several transfers and decommits

The Wisconsin Badgers appear to be building some momentum on the recruiting trail over the past couple of days, but that comes on the heels of several players on the football team choosing to enter the transfer portal and one player committed in the 2023 class to reopen his recruitment. 

You can read about each of those decisions from the past week here:

With these defections, Wisconsin has even more roster flexibility to bring in high school recruits and players from the transfer portal. I would expect the Badgers to host another large contingent of players next weekend over the weekend of December 16 as a result. 

Semar Melvin is already scheduled to visit Michigan State, while Graham Mertz's name has been linked to Kentucky of late. 

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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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