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Inked for the Wisconsin Badgers: Three-star Cornerback Jonas Duclona

With the early signing period for high school football players beginning on Dec. 21, BadgerBlitz.com dives into a closer look at the commits who have signed with the Wisconsin Badgers.

Let's take a look at Naples (FL) High defensive back Jonas Duclona, who officially signed with Wisconsin on Wednesday after committing to the program in December 2022.

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Wisconsin cornerback signee Jonas Duclona.
Wisconsin cornerback signee Jonas Duclona.
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RANKING

The 9th commitment in Wisconsin’s 2023 class, Duclona is a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He is also rated the No.70 cornerback in the country and the No.99 prospect in Florida.

Duclona committed to the Badgers over 30 other scholarship offers, including Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, and West Virginia. He was committed to Cincinnati from June 2022 to November 2022.

RECRUITING STORY

A contributor for one of the more consistent winning programs in South Florida, Duclona started receiving recruiting interest at an early age. His first offer came during the spring of his sophomore season from Florida. Interest and scholarship from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC came throughout the summer and his junior year, including an offer from Wisconsin, but it was a May visit to Cincinnati that stood out to Duclona. When he returned a month later for an official visit, he committed in Luke Fickell’s office.

“He was one of the first to hear it,” Duclona told the Cincinnati Rivals site. “It was great. He showed a lot of love; he’s a great man. He is a great person. We were at his house yesterday; he’s a great family. He is a family man; I know he will take care of me.”

Duclona firmly shut down the recruiting process and stayed in steady contact with the Cincinnati staff until late November when Fickell was named the head coach of Wisconsin. Decommitting a day after the announcement, feeling his relationship with the Cincinnati coaches was starting over, and still comfortable with Fickell, Duclona took an official visit to Wisconsin in early December. While on the visit, Duclona saw most of the coaches who were recruiting him to Cincinnati wearing Wisconsin colors. Even after the visit, the UW staff flew down to Naples to have lunch with him. That full-court press led Duclona to re-commit to Fickell.

"Coach Fickell told me to put faith in him and said that he has big plans for me,” Duclona said. “The same standards at Cincinnati are going to come with him to Wisconsin.”

WHY WISCONSIN?

“It was a quick turnaround with Wisconsin. I felt comfortable with the people I had made a connection with, I felt comfortable staying with them. They all made it easy for me to know where I belong … “What put them over the top, they have players there from different places, and they wanted to be there. Wisconsin is a great place to be, I wanted to be a part of that.”

COACH'S TAKE

"Jonas' film speaks for himself and he's a really good player - I would call him a lock-down corner," Martin, who reported a 4.62-second 40-yard dash for Duclona, said. "And then it's the intangibles off the field when you start to talk to him and get to know him. You realize that you're not only getting a really good football player, they are also going to get a great locker room guy and someone who will do great things in the community there.

"I think what separates him is the physicality. Jonas is a really strong kid in the weight room and he currently holds the squat record in the 175-pound class for us. He's just a very physical kid who is not afraid to match up with bigger wide receivers and he'll come down and play the run if he has to. A lot of South Florida guys, they can run with dudes, they can play the ball well and they can match up with you one-on-one. But Jonas brings that along with physicality."

-High School Coach Rick Martin

BADGERBLITZ.COM'S TAKE

Wisconsin’s lone All-American Bowl participant (to this point), Duclona’s play took a big jump from his sophomore to junior season. After ending 2020 with 24 tackles and one interception, he finished 2021 with 38 tackles, four interceptions, and 16 pass breakups. The improvement came from Duclona’s growth in the ability to attack the ball, stronger technique at the line of scrimmage, improved footwork, and enhanced football IQ to help him read routes. Add to his natural quickness, it’s not a surprise Fickell was aggressively recruiting him twice.

If UW does indeed move to a 3-3-5 scheme, and considering the Badgers are losing at least three cornerbacks to either graduation or the transfer portal, it’s no surprise to see UW load up with five defensive backs in the class and target the Naples corner.

Duclona fits the mold of starting as a nickel cornerback and growing into a field cornerback spot. Either way, Duclona has the physical ability to make an impact early in his career and the versatility to be a valuable commodity to a potential new-look defensive scheme.

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