Badger Watch 2: Linebackers
With summer camps over and more commitments in place, Wisconsin has a better idea of what its 2014 recruiting class will look like. Over the next two weeks, BadgerBlitz.com will reanalyze UW's recruiting efforts with a position-by-position breakdown of targets to see how the Badgers will fill their 2014 recruiting class.
Advertisement
Today, we reexamine the linebackers.
1. Last update: Badger Watch: Linebackers (5/23/13)
2. What's happened since May?
Wisconsin hosted two camps in June and one of the biggest names there was Mukwonago linebacker Dominic Cizauskas. A 6-foot-1, 250-pound prospect, Cizauskas performed well enough to earn an offer on June 18 and committed the following day.
"I think most exciting this is that Wisconsin is getting a kid with a Big Ten body already," Mukwongo head coach Clay Iverson told BadgerBlitz.com. "I don't know if they will redshirt him or not, but he's not a kid you offer and hope to develop in two or three years. He's ready to go, in my opinion.
"He understands the game of football and he's a smart kid. I think he'll learn the system fast, he's a competitor and he's got a college body."
Three likely candidates to fill a spot in the linebacker group, Tyler Burke, Sione Takitaki and Austin Roberts, all committed elsewhere (Maryland, BYU and Illinois, respectively), and Arrowhead linebacker Sam Seonbuchner camped without receiving an offer, leaving this position very up in the air.
3. What happens next?
There are currently only nine uncommitted recruits the Badgers have offered at linebacker, and the only one that has shown considerable interest in Wisconsin is junior college prospect Dvonta Derricott. Derricott recently put the Badgers in his top three with South Florida and West Virginia, and they likely sit very well within that group.
"I have a great relationship with the coaches at all of my top three," Derricott told Rivals.com. "That's what they all have in common. At South Florida, I like the Florida weather. At Wisconsin, they have a successful program and Coach Chris Beatty recruited me out of high school. West Virginia is the only one that didn't recruit me out of high school, but I have a great relationship with them."
Other than that, it's hard seeing anyone else they have offered committing to Wisconsin. Unless they are willing to only take two linebackers in this class, look for them to extend more offers.
4. Class Prediction: : I think Derricott will eventually commit to the Badgers and join Cizauskas in a two-man class at linebacker.
Click Here to view this video.