NSD Preview: Wisconsin's recruiting competition in the 2021 class

Wisconsin holds 21 scholarship prospects as commits as the early signing period begins on Wednesday. Of course, within both the Big Ten Conference and outside of it, the football program needed to sell itself against some top-notch FBS competition.

It apparently has done so, since as of Tuesday morning, UW ranks No. 15 in the country for the 2021 class, according to Rivals.com.

That said, it is good to always check in and see where there was overlap between some familiar and not-so-familiar programs competing on the recruiting front. BadgerBlitz.com compiled all the reported offer sheets of Wisconsin commits and then cross-referenced them with which teams also offered.

Here are some of the programs that Wisconsin frequently competed against to fill out this cycle's signees and its highest-rated class ever in the Rivals.com rankings era.

Iowa is annually a program Wisconsin needs to fend off for recruits within the Badger State. But UW also jumped into the Hawkeye State in this class to pluck away four-star projected outside linebacker T.J. Bollers.

Bollers, also an Iowa legacy, did not place Kirk Ferentz's program within his top six on April 7.

UW also beat out its Heartland Trophy rival for three-star wide receiver Skyler Bell. Iowa offered five other players, including Braelon Allen (his first FBS offer in July 2019), Riley Mahlman, Jake Ratzlaff, Bryan Sanborn and Hunter Wohler.

Looking at the Hawkeyes' 2021 class, the Badgers extended scholarship opportunities at the Big Ten level to defensive lineman Jeremiah Pittman and offensive tackle David Davidkov before their respective decisions to play in Iowa City.