Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 29 - Wide Receiver Skyler Bell

Wisconsin's 2023 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the top 30 players who we think will be the keys to success for Luke Fickell's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.

Skyler Bell, a native of The Bronx, New York, came to Wisconsin as part of its historic 2021 recruiting class, the highest-ranked in program history. While that class featured plenty of high-profile blue chip recruits such as Braelon Allen, Hunter Wohler, Nolan Rucci and Ricardo Hallman, Bell was one of the lowest-rated players Wisconsin signed.

The receiver listed several Power Five offers outside of Wisconsin including Iowa, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Besides Wisconsin, he showed the most interest in Georgia Tech, Iowa and Rutgers before ultimately committing to the Badgers in August of 2020.

Bell was one of two wide receivers Wisconsin took in the 2021 class, the other being former four-star recruit Markus Allen. Neither receiver saw meaningful game action until the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl against Arizona State. Each caught a pass in that game, and the two were touted as the future of the position in Madison. With Allen in the transfer portal, it's up to Bell to fulfill that prophecy.

Bell was Wisconsin's second leading receiver in 2022, and he was primarily used on the outside. According to numbers from Pro Football Focus, the receiver was lined up out wide on nearly 92 percent of his snaps. He displayed his smooth route-running and soft hands, but like the rest of Wisconsin's passing game, his production was inconsistent and he never topped more than four catches in a game.

With the Badgers' wide receiver room getting the facelift it did in the offseason with four new transfers, Bell's role will shift. During spring ball, he did most of his work in the slot, alternating with Cincinnati transfer Will Pauling.

"It’s been a little bit of an adjustment and definitely a little bit of a learning curve, for sure," Bell said. "The slot is way different than the outside. I’ve never played the slot before. I’ve always been an outside receiver, so just adjusting to being able to see defenses better. You’re not going up against just a corner anymore, you’re going up against linebackers, safeties, nickels. And most of the time you have two people guarding you - whether you have two people actually guarding you or not. So just things like that and getting used to it and getting better day by day."

The Bell/Pauling battle at the slot position will be something to keep tabs on during fall camp. Pauling was one of the biggest stars of spring ball, but Bell held his own and has proved he can produce in his own right.

Bell has a fantastic chance to be an unsung hero of Wisconsin's wide receiver room. While much of the offseason attention was focused on the incoming transfers, Bell is coming off a quietly productive year and now has a full season of starts under his belt. He may not be listed as a starter on the team's initial depth chart in late August, but with the way that offensive coordinator Phil Longo rotates his receivers, Bell could still wind up being a significant contributor.

With the leap Wisconsin's offense is expected to take, it wouldn't be shock to see Bell put up similar numbers from his 2022 campaign this fall. The difference? Bell is likely slated to be a fringe starter, a rotational slot receiver, instead of an every-down wide out. Still, 30 catches and a handful of touchdowns is reasonable for a player of his caliber in his presumed role. Mike Brown has a stockpile of depth in his receiver room, and plenty of players will get a chance to prove they belong on the field. Bell proved that a season ago — can he do the same with a deeper, more talented group of pass catchers?

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