Combo guard Brad Davison excited to commit to Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers added a big commitment for their 2017 recruiting class in three-star guard Brad Davison from Maple Grove, Minn., who announced his decision on Twitter Monday.

“It’s kind of a mixture of emotions,” Davison told BadgerBlitz.com on Tuesday in recapping his commitment. “First of all I’m excited - I’m excited to be part of the Badger family. The tradition in that program is great. But I’m also relieved - it’s a big weight off of your shoulders, and now I can kind of just focus and enjoy my senior year and the rest of the summer.

"It’s also a little different because the recruiting process has been a part of my life for so long and now that it’s all over, it’s a little different.”

Davison is the third prospect to commit to Greg Gard’s 2017 recruiting class, after three-star guard Kobe King (La Crosse, Wis.) and four-star forward Nathan Reuvers (Lakeville, Minn.). And while several schools were after the three-star prospect, he said the comfort level he had built up with the Badgers over the years made a big difference in the end.

“I think it was just the familiarity with coach Gard and coach (Joe) Krabbenhoft,” Davison said. “I’ve known coach Gard ever since I was a freshman, and I’ve known coach Krabbenhoft since I was in eighth grade when he was at South Dakota State. I think I built a really strong relationship with them over time, and at the end I followed my gut and my heart and chose Wisconsin.”

But committing was the easy part for Davison, who told BadgerBlitz.com that he knew he needed to reach out to all of the other schools who were still pursuing him and personally inform them that he had decided to play for Wisconsin at the college level.

“I made 24 phone calls, either to the head coaches or the assistant coaches that I was still talking to,” Davison told BadgerBlitz.com on Tuesday. “I thought I owed them that, so I wanted to do it the right way and give them the respect that they deserve, because I know they put a lot of time in to my family and me, whether it was visits or phone calls or texts or letters. I just wanted to thank them for everything they’ve done for me - I thought they deserved that.”

And while Davison wasn’t exactly looking forward to telling a string of coaches he would be playing somewhere else after high school, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound prospect told BadgerBlitz.com that he came out on the other side more confident in his commitment to the Badgers.

“(The coaches) were all very supportive,” Davison said. “It made me feel very good - the calls went a lot better than I thought they would, but I think they’re all kind of used to it. It’s their profession, it’s a business. They get people who do say ‘yes’ (to them) but more often people say ‘no.’ It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, but I’m glad I did it.”

With the weight of the recruiting process now off of his shoulders, Davison said he’s ready to get on with his final year of high school, where he’ll play quarterback for Maple Grove’s football team, and enjoy his senior year of high school basketball before joining the Badgers next year.

“I think I’m just looking forward to playing basketball again and having fun,” Davison said. “(Committing) has taken a big weight off of my shoulders and now I can just go out there and play and compete. I’m really looking forward to my senior year.”

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.