Mixon talking with Badgers
Joe Mixon is a hot commodity these days. The 2014 running back's recruiting is heating up following the official start to the 2014 recruiting season, to the point where he now has 30 scholarship offers from FBS-level schools.
Advertisement
That includes eight SEC offers, nine Pac-12 offers, and three scholarship offers from the Big Ten. Heavy weights like Michigan and Ohio State were already in contact with the 6-foot-2 prospect from Oakley, Calif., but he picked up another offer from the Wisconsin Badgers and their new staff under head coach Gary Andersen.
Mixon confirmed his scholarship offer from the Badgers with BadgerBlitz.com via text on Sunday night, and said that new defensive line coach Chad Kauha'aha'a was the one to extend the offer over the phone. Mixon said he liked Kauha'aha'a based on the conversation they had a few weeks ago.
"Coach Chad is a very cool guy," Mixon told BadgerBlitz.com. "He's a very straight-up person."
Mixon said the Badgers and Kauha'aha'a told him they liked him for his skills as an all-around running back. In addition, Mixon's California roots are interesting for the Badgers, since Andersen has stressed that he and his staff would like to recruit the Golden State more heavily than the previous staff under Bret Bielema did.
Mixon is also the fifth running back to receive a scholarship offer from the Badgers in the 2014 class, along with Shai McKenzie, Gerald Owens, Jonathan Hilliman, and Minnesota commit Jeff Jones.
The Wisconsin offer has also piqued Mixon's interest enough where he will travel to Madison to check out the campus.
"I plan on visiting [Wisconsin] during the football season," Mixon said, "But I'm open minded."
The Badgers will have a lot of work to do if they want to land Mixon as their featured running back for their 2014 class, but for now they're at least part of the conversation.
For more Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and discussion, follow John on Twitter.