NSD Preview: A look at Wisconsin's 2023 recruiting class

With head coach Luke Fickell scheduled to unveil Wisconsin's 2023 recruiting class on Wednesday, BadgerBlitz.com contributors Benjamin Worgull, Matt Perkins and Jon McNamara provided their insight on the expected group.

Worgull: While it appears I’m choosing the easy way out with Rivals.com’s highest-ranked prospect in Wisconsin’s class, I believe that James Durand has the best pro potential from this current 12-man group. That belief doesn’t just come because of UW’s long, successful history of churning out NFL offensive linemen, either. Durand has a great physical makeup with his height and frame that can handle more weight, is athletic enough to develop into any of the five offensive line spots, and plays in a way that’s tailormade for UW – no thrills, no excuses, just dominate the guy in front of him. He comes from a high school that worked out of the shotgun a lot. If you are of the belief that the Badgers’ offense will take on a larger air-raid quality under new offensive coordinator Phil Longo, this commitment could yield some dividends in the years to come.

Perkins: This is a no-brainer, assuming Amare Snowden signs with the Badgers on Wednesday. The Badgers have only landed two four-star true corners in the Rivals.com era (Semar Melvin and Ricardo Hallman), and Snowden is a cut above the two as a prospect. At 6-foot-3 with an 84-inch wingspan, Snowden has elite measurables to go along with a high football IQ. The comp that is thrown around for Snowden is another former Fickell standout in Ahmad (Sauce) Gardner. Now, projecting him to become an All-American and top 10 NFL Draft pick may be presumptive, but the four-star talent has the upside where you can see why it’s not so far-fetched.

Snowden’s potential signing also signals that the staff can close. He was a prospect who really wanted to play both baseball and football at the next level, yet Fickell and company were able to reel him in despite the fact that Wisconsin doesn’t field a team on the diamond.

McNamara: Braedyn Moore isn’t Wisconsin’s highest-rated commit on paper, but I think he’s the most talented athlete the Badgers will sign on Wednesday. At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, the three-star prospect from Ohio has a linebacker’s build with the skillset to play boundary safety for the Badgers. As UW transitions from a 3-4 to 3-3-5 look, Moore, an early enrollee, will be instrumental in that process. Simply put, Moore is one of the more unique athletes Wisconsin has signed over the last handful of years.

Worgull: Considering all the offseason changes Wisconsin has and will endure, a lot of names could be put into this category. If the Badgers indeed move to a 3-3-5, the secondary needs more corners than the six that are listed on the projected spring roster. At this moment, UW will sign three of them and I’ll wager that Jace Arnold will find his way on the field in some capacity. A talented corner who has been recruited by SEC schools since his freshman season, Arnold’s speed, physicality, and instincts pop on film, but his biggest asset will be his versatility for the Badgers. He looks to have the skills to play safety, corner, or nickel and he's been earmarked by schools as a returner. Considering UW will have a vacancy at that kick return position next season and Arnold is planning to enroll early, I won’t be surprised to see him suit up in September.

Perkins: I don’t want to double-dip with Snowden here, even though he’s the obvious answer. And transfer quarterback Nick Evers doesn’t qualify as a 2023 recruit. So I’ll go with the only in-state prospect in the class, Nate White. The running back room is very thin at the moment, and White’s natural receiving ability could help him see the field sooner rather than later. With Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi returning as the only tailbacks with any significant experience, White has an opportunity to get into the rotation and potentially work in the slot as well.

McNamara: Moore would probably be my pick for this category as well. But to avoid repetition from the first question, I’ll go with Jonas Duclona. The cornerback from Florida was a huge priority for the new coaching staff, so much so that three trips were made to Naples over the last handful of weeks in order to secure his commitment. As an early enrollee who is joining a defensive-back heavy scheme, Duclona could see the field as early as this fall.

Worgull: I do not know what the Badgers have in Jordan Mayer. He’s athletic enough to be slotted in at a couple of positions (UW started looking at him as a tight end) but he hasn’t played any outside linebacker and is undersized. However, Wisconsin has taken a similar approach in the past with the OLB position: find a long, disruptive edge rusher who has the frame and tools to move the middle of the defense. That’s Mayer, who is quick off the ball and plays with power. There will be a learning curve for developing his pass-rush skills and learning how to drop into coverage, but Paul Chryst’s staff saw a lot of similarities between Mayer and a young T.J. Watt. If Mayer turns out to be anything close to Watt, it would be a huge success.

Perkins: Sometimes you just get it right the first time, and that’s what the Badgers did with Tyler Jansey. Commit No. 1 in the 2023 cycle, Jansey hasn’t wavered one bit despite the coaching change. But because his commitment feels like it happened two lifetimes ago, I think a lot of folks are forgetting just how solid he is.

The obvious comparison is Jack Sanborn, as both prospects were classic "Midwest Mikes" from the Chicago area. But I liken his game more to that of TJ Edwards. He’s a cerebral player who already sees and processes the game at the collegiate level, and that shows up on film. Jansey seems to appear in gaps before blockers are even aware that he’s there. He’s a big addition to a linebacker room that’s already the best position group on the team.

McNamara: Fickell and his new coaching staff could have made a strong push to bring Cincinnati commit Brady Drogosh with them to Madison. Instead, they dove into Cole LaCrue’s film and saw enough to make sure he remained solid in his commitment to the Badgers. That, in my opinion, says a lot about LaCrue and his fit Phil Longo’s offense moving forward. Despite the lack of offers - LaCrue chose Wisconsin over Colorado and Tulane - the Badgers may have found a gem at quarterback in this recruiting cycle.

Worgull: Let’s be honest, Wisconsin needs a lot. Fickell’s likely priorities were to add depth at cornerback, enhance the competition in the quarterback room, make up for the last staff not adding a tight end, and more. But with UW likely changing its offensive approach, the Badgers had to add a big-play threat to the running back room and look to have found a quality candidate in Milwaukee’s Nate White.

Shockingly the only in-state scholarship player in this class, White’s 1,345 rushing yards are partially a product of the conference he played in but largely because of his skills. He’s been clocked as low as 4.5 in the 40, can cut quickly and effortlessly, and has the vision to find gaps. He evidently fits what the new staff wants since they let four-star commit Jaquez Keyes re-open his commitment.

UW didn’t add a tailback in last year’s recruiting cycle, meaning the Badgers are only expected to have three true running backs on the spring roster. And considering starting tailback Braelon Allen has been dealing with injuries at the end of both his freshman and sophomore seasons, adding a caliber of player like White was important.

Perkins: I know it may seem strange to have Justin Taylor here, as he’s not even the highest-rated defensive back in the class. But by all accounts, Taylor was the main force holding the Badgers’ 2023 class together during the transition from Paul Chryst to Jim Leonhard to Fickell. He’s already a leader in the group and continues to actively advocate for the program on social media, calling on fellow Midwest prospects to get up to Madison. You can never have enough guys like him.

On the field, Taylor is an excellent fit at safety in the 3-3-5. He’s an instinctive player who can be utilized in a variety of ways, from covering the slot to playing center field. That versatility could also help get him on the field early.

McNamara: Wisconsin missed on a number of tight end targets in the 2023 class. But on one of the final weekends before Signing Day, the new staff landed a commitment from Tucker Ashcraft, a three-star prospect from Washington. Ashcraft isn’t “most needed” in the sense that he will be relied upon to play right away for the Badgers. Rather, it was important for the Badgers to lock up a player at a position of need who can both block and catch in 11 personnel. Ashcraft has a great mix of size and athletic ability at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, and I think we see him on the field sooner rather than later in Madison.

Worgull: In hindsight, one could reasonably make a case for an impending Wisconsin commitment from 11 of the players in the class. Ashcraft’s decision was probably the one outlier.

Committed to Colorado since April, Ashcraft backed off that commitment two days following the hiring of Deion Sanders. Four days after his decision, Ashcraft was getting courted by a handful of Wisconsin coaches on an official visit. By the time he was flying over the midlands back to the Pacific Northwest, he knew he wanted to play for the Badgers.

It’s not often Wisconsin lands a player from Washington (Walker Williams in 2012 is the only one since at least 2002) and the Badgers quickly outmaneuvered Washington to get him. As a result, Fickell’s staff made up for the glaring mistake of former tight end coach Chris Haering being unable to land a TE in the months leading up to signing day.

Perkins: I’ll admit that when James Durand committed, he was barely on my radar, and I thought he was a bit of a shot in the dark. But the big man from Arizona had a very impressive senior season against some of the top competition in the country and rightfully earned his fourth star. He moves really well for his size, which should bode well for his prospects in Phil Longo’s more up-tempo offense.

Besides his athleticism, the other thing that stands out on tape about Durand is his nasty streak. He finishes blocks with authority and clearly grinds down opponents throughout games. Durand obviously needs to add more bulk in his lower half as he jumps up in competition to the Big Ten level, but his natural athleticism gives him huge upside.

McNamara: Once we learned more about Jordan Mayer and his desire to play for Wisconsin, his commitment to the Badgers wasn’t a surprise. But looking back at his recruitment, the three-star prospect popped up almost out of nowhere onto UW's radar in late April. At that time, Mayer decommitted from Boston College in order to visit Madison for the first time. As he learned more about the program, the projected edge prospect developed a strong relationship with Bobby April, who compared Mayer to former UW standout T.J. Watt.

Worgull: To be honest, looking at Wisconsin’s 12 commits, I believe the Rivals.com staff has the Badgers’ class accurately ranked. Therefore, I’ll go slightly off the board and select preferred walk-on Will McDonald. The younger brother of current UW sophomore Cade McDonald, Will turned down 10 offers to play for the Badgers, including Power Five offers from Iowa State and Kansas, not to mention FCS power North Dakota State and offers to play lacrosse. He had 61 tackles and eight sacks last season, showing the ability to fight through double teams and chase down ball carries against offenses that try to run in the opposite direction. He is worth a Wisconsin scholarship, if not now than in the not-too-distant future.

Perkins: I, for one, love kids who take a post-graduate year. Players get an extra year to mature and fill out physically while not using up a year of eligibility. Christian Alliegro is a prospect who made the most of his. He really filled out during this season and is all of 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, making him a very versatile piece in Mike Tressel’s 3-3-5. The scheme relies on players’ versatility, something that Alliegro has in spades. He’s also someone who will be a special teams contributor from the jump, making him a steal late in the cycle.

McNamara: A.J. Tisdell might be the least talked about commit in Wisconsin’s 2023 class. But that doesn’t mean he won’t make an impact during his time at UW. Tisdell, who led his high school team to a state title appearance last weekend in Texas, is a longer corner who can play both on the boundary or in the slot, if needed. He’s drawn early comparisons to former Wisconsin cornerback Faion Hicks, a multi-year starter for the Badgers. As mentioned above, cornerback will be instrumental for the Badgers moving forward, and Tisdell will be important in UW's new anticipated scheme.

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