When the dust settles after yet another disappointing Wisconsin football season, there will be plenty of blame to dish out for what could be the Badgers’ worst finish in over two decades.

Head coach Luke Fickell hasn’t inspired much confidence in his regime through 23 games. In year two, the Badgers sit at a precarious 5-4 limping into their second bye week badly wounded coming off their worst loss of Fickell’s tenure, a 42-10 shellacking at the hands of Iowa.

The head coach himself should draw much of the ire. He’s made some poor coaching hires (offensive coordinator Phil Longo, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr.) that simply haven’t panned out. His somewhat indiscriminate inaugural hires stunted this program’s growth, as there’s been a lack of cohesion amongst his staff.

Many of his assistant coaches also deserve some blame for curious personnel decisions and stubborn play-calling. Supposedly big-time players have failed to live up to expectations as well. And after the manhandling in the trenches against Iowa, even Wisconsin’s strength and conditioning staff caught some heat, unfairly or not. Heck, it’s been so dysfunctional at times I wouldn’t be surprised if the fanbase went after the Camp Randall concessions crew next.

In such a disappointing season, the program’s deficiencies have been made very clear. But another area exists where Wisconsin must improve dramatically: the transfer portal.

The Badgers’ recruiting staff, led by director of recruiting Pat Lambert and general manager Max Stienecker, have been perhaps the only department in Fickell’s cabinet that hasn’t taken heat from the Wisconsin faithful. In many ways, that’s deservedly so: their first full recruiting class, the 2024 cycle, checked in at No. 19 nationally. The 2025 class (currently ranked No. 17) is on pace to top that.

Still, the jury should still be deliberating on Wisconsin recruiting under Fickell. In most cases, it’s too early to tell if these high school players that comprise the Badgers’ top-20 classes will pan out in Madison.

What’s troubled me about Badgers recruiting under Fickell, however, is the lack of success in the transfer portal.

When the head coach was brought to Madison, he made it clear from his introductory presser that he prefers to build his program through high school recruiting. Nevertheless, Wisconsin has signed 30 players from the transfer portal in his tenure. The results so far are…underwhelming, to say the least.

The following is a chart categorizing each transfer signed under Fickell in three ways: Hit (the player has made a positive impact on the field), TBD/Neutral (the player has either yet to play enough to know or hasn’t made a difference one way or the other) and Miss (the player has been a disappointment).

These results are damning. Of 30 transfers, only seven of them have been hits. 11 have been flat-out misses. The remaining nearly half haven’t made a difference one way or the other.

Now, you may disagree on certain players. Perhaps it’s too soon to write off John Pius and Leon Lowery after they’ve done next to nothing following an impressive offseason. Maybe Elijah Hills’ play on the defensive line, the best on his team but far from dynamic, should be considered the bare minimum and therefore not quite a “hit.” Maybe it’s unfair to label Tanner Mordecai and Tyler Van Dyke misses after both suffered unfortunate injuries that significantly altered their Wisconsin careers. But the point remains — Wisconsin has missed badly in the transfer portal.

Is there still a chance some of the TBD/Neutral players pop for Wisconsin? Of course. Regardless, that defeats the purpose of the transfer portal. It should be a quick fix, a way to plug holes while bypassing development. If more than half of your portal haul (see: the 2024 transfer class) has failed to make an immediate impact, those may as well be misses too.

The Badgers have done a good job stockpiling high school talent under Fickell. But their misses in the portal have caused significant problems. In the head coach’s perfect world, he likely only needs to lure a handful or portal athletes to Madison each year. But in what’s shaping up to be a massively pivotal offseason for the future of Wisconsin football, the Badgers must find more success in the transfer portal at their immediate needs.

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