Key Wisconsin Badgers: No. 9 - Wide Receiver Chimere Dike

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.

Chimere Dike came to Wisconsin as part of its 2020 recruiting haul. Besides the two tight ends - Cam Large and Cole Dakovich - he's the only remaining skill position player on offense from that cycle. Running back Jalen Berger transferred to Michigan State, and receivers Isaac Smith and Devin Chandler both left the program as well, with the later tragically passing away while on Virginia's football team.

Dike was a three-star prospect out of Waukesha North. The fourth-ranked player in the state was rather lightly recruited, listing offers from Iowa State and Wisconsin while receiving interest from Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska. When he committed, Dike became the first in-state scholarship wide receiver the Badgers signed since 2013 (Jazz Peavy).

"They liked that I wasn’t only a good football player, but that I had a work ethic and was someone that would fit in well there," Dike told BadgerBlitz.com upon committing. "I feel great about Wisconsin. It’s a place I feel like I fit in and the coaches are amazing there. Just how down to earth the coaches were stood out to me and the atmosphere at the basketball game was electric."

Dike enters his senior season as the most experienced wide out on the Badgers' roster, and it's not particularly close. Since 2020, he's put up 78 catches for 1,150 yards and eight touchdowns across 31 games. The past two seasons, the receiver spent more time in the slot than he did out wide. Through spring camp, however, he lined up primarily on the outside while Will Pauling and Skyler Bell have held down the slot position.

"I think just some of the angles that you get when you're in the field compared to the slot (are different)," Dike told reporters this spring. "Things are a lot quicker and tighter in the slot. I think your technique and footwork matters more on the outside. But I've played pretty much everywhere in college, so it wasn't too much of an adjustment."

While the Badgers added a myriad of talent to their offense, including three receivers who could potentially start in Bryson Green, CJ Williams and Will Pauling, Dike figures to hold down a starting role on the outside with his experience and leadership. He doesn't necessarily have any dominant physical traits, but he still possesses the soft hands, contested catch ability and body control that helped him earn snaps as a true freshman.

Dike has never been a game-breaking receiver in college, but he's also never been in an offense nearly as potent as the one he's in now. If he can hold down his spot with the starting offense this fall, the receiver could be in line for a huge senior season.

Wisconsin has a great problem at receiver — it might have more game-ready players than then it knows what to do with. Regardless, Dike is the most experienced and proven of the bunch, and should be a staple of Mike Brown's pass-catchers. That's why he's — spoiler alert — the highest ranked receiver in this series.

"I definitely wanna get more consistent. There's stuff with my technique I wanna clean up. But I think that's exciting, when you go through spring ball and you see some of the progress you've made, going into the summer knowing some things you wanna work on," Dike said towards the end of spring practices. "This offense as a whole, there's a lot of great stuff."

Coming off a career year and entering his senior season, Dike is widely regarded as a leader of the team and the elder statesman of the wide receiver room. Now, playing in a brand new offense and catching passes from an entirely different group of quarterbacks, Dike will look to improve on his career-best numbers from a season ago. It's not out of the question for the wide out to flirt with 1,000 yards receiving in 2023.

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