Wisconsin secured a commitment from Hayden Rucci, arguably its top tight end target in the 2019 class, in the middle of winter.

But it was the ground work the staff laid in the summer and fall that put the Badgers on top for the 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior from Warwick High School in Pennsylvania.

"With Wisconsin, when Hayden's family visited this summer and then made it back for a game in the fall, they had nothing but positive things to say about the program and the school," Rucci's head coach, Bob Locker, told BadgerBlitz.com. "They loved the campus, loved the atmosphere and thought it was a tremendous football program, top to bottom.