Coach: Benzschawel impresses right away
Fritz Rauch is just settling in as the new head coach at Grafton High School after spending the last 15 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Homestead, arguably the flagship football program in the North Shore Conference.
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And while he's still piecing things together at his new job, Rauch was very confident he'd have a senior leader to rely upon this fall. That athlete being Luke Benzschawel, who gave his verbal commitment to Wisconsin on Friday evening.
"I got the job in January and have only had Luke for a few months, but I've had the chance to coach against him at Homestead for a few years, so that's been a unique perspective," Rauch told BadgerBlitz.com. "Luke is a hell of a player and I knew walking into this job that he was going to be a Division 1 recruit."
A 6-foot-7, 230-pound lineman, Benzschawel, whose father, Scott Benzschawel, played football at UW from 1983-87, was lightly recruited, according to Rauch. The one constant, however, was Wisconsin and first-year assistant coach Chris Haering.
"Other than Wisconsin, we really haven't received a lot of other interest from schools in regards to Luke," Rauch said. "Right after the new staff at Wisconsin came in and right after I really got going at Grafton, I met coach Haering, who will be recruiting the southeast part of the state. We had a chance to talk about Luke and after the staff watched his film, coach Haering said everyone was real excited about him.
"On film, Luke is a heck of a player and I'm not surprised that Wisconsin jumped on him. He's a 6-foot-7 kid who can move. One thing led to another and he went to a few practices. I talked to coach Haering recently and I didn't know they were going to offer, but when I got the text about it yesterday (Friday) we were all very excited."
Benzschawel's older brother, Beau Benzschawel, is a freshman offensive lineman for the Badgers from the 2014 recruiting class. He played tight end at Grafton before adding close to 40 pounds since arriving in Madison. Rauch thinks Luke Benzschawel, a projected defensive end and the third member of UW's 2016 recruiting class, could follow the same path.
"Luke has lots of room to grow physically with his frame and in terms of his maturity in his muscle mass," Rauch said. "Athletically, I think he's comparable to Luke Worthington (former Homestead offensive tackle and current BYU basketball player). I think he's very similar to Luke and is probably a bit more athletic. That's where his frame is at -- around 230 pounds and he could still put on 40 pounds and look fit. He's a long kid and putting weight on won't be a problem; he's got a ton a room to grow."
During his time with the Highlanders' program, Rauch coached a number of high-profile defensive linemen, a list that includes David Pfaff, Donte Phillips, Brandon Hines, John Laihinen, Ben Gardner and Shelby Harris, among others. Benzschawel stacks up well in that elite group.
"Luke's ability to pursue down the line of scrimmage is fantastic," Rauch said. "We've been lucky during my 15 years at Homestead to have some good defensive linemen, a couple that are playing in the NFL. Luke moves along the line of scrimmage as well as any of those kids. He's a talented player with a tremendous upside.
"I had a real brief opportunity to coach Joe Thomas in an all-state game going back about 12 years. Joe Thomas was a kid that could do anything on a football field. Now I'm not going to compare Luke to a future hall of fame player, but he's a kid that can do everything on the field. If we put him on the offensive line, he'd be our best kid there. If we put him in an eligible number, he'd be our best player there. Trust me, we're going to find out ways to make him intricately involved in every facet of our football team."
Off the field, Benzschawel received high praise from Rauch, who immediately placed him in a leadership position.
"Luke is part of our leadership council and has been great in that short period of time since we established that," Rauch said. "A few things stand out to me and the first is that he's a very sincere young man. No. 2 is that he knows what it takes to be successful, he really does. No. 3, his teammates respect him a ton. In some ways, I think that's the highest compliment.
"Those are all things I've seen right away and I watched him bring those qualities to the basketball court with both his teammates and his opponents. He's a competitor who makes guys around him better. He demands excellence from not only himself but from the guys around him, and those are the guys I want to be involved with on our football team."
Rauch, who has sent players to Wisconsin under four different head coaches -- Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen and now Paul Chryst -- is excited about the new coaching staff in Madison.
"I'm really excited about having coach Chryst and his staff back at Wisconsin," Rauch said. "And I think that's universal with the guys that I've talked to. Coach Haering has made a great impression and he got going much faster than I thought he would. He's been great and very upfront. He told me what Luke was doing well and what he still needed to see. He was very honest and transparent and that goes a long way, in my opinion.
"I've been around this for 26 years and I've seen kids who were recruited at very high levels. Most situations have been great but some I've had very little respect for. I think coach Chryst and his staff are very well respected across the state, and keeping Ben Strickland around was a great decision as the recruiting coordinator. He's a great guy and I'm looking forward to getting to know more about them and seeing what Wisconsin can get done on the field."