Every year, Rivals.com ranks prospects and recruiting classes. But continuing today, BadgerBlitz.com is looking at Wisconsin's cycles over a 10-year period and ranking them against each other.
Specifically, we're looking at the classes that UW signed from 2007 to 2016 and ranking them based on what players did in college. There's not enough evidence to judge the classes of 2017, 2018 or 2019 yet, so we cut off the rankings there and counted back 10 years.
In order to get a more well-rounded perspective, BadgerBlitz.com enlisted the help of former staff writers John Veldhuis and Jon Gorman; @zonemadison (96.7FM 1670AM) Sports Director Zach Heilprin; and current writers Jon McNamara and Benjamin Worgull. Each was asked to assign a point total (1 to 10) to each class, with 10 being the highest and 1 being lowest.
Today, we continue with No. 7 on the rankings: The Class of 2011.
Total Points: 26
Top recruit: Melvin Gordon will go down as one of the most accomplished players in the program's history. Luckily for Wisconsin, the staff flipped his commitment from Iowa in December of 2010. Gordon's redshirt junior season was historic; he was the Doak Walker Award winner, Heisman Trophy runner-up and an unanimous consensus first-team All-American. That season, Gordon rushed for 2,587 yards, a Big Ten record and the second-most in FBS history at the time, and led nation in rushing at 184.8 yards per game. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Best surprise: Tyler Marz certainly had the potential to excel at Wisconsin, but he developed into a three-year starter at left tackle, an awfully impressive feat.
Biggest bust: There were a few, but James Adeyanju totaled just 10 tackles at Wisconsin.
Wanted to see more from: With the exception of Fred Willis and Nate Hammon, we saw just about every player for at least four years. But for this category, I would have liked to have seen a healthy Devin Gaulden, who could have had a much different career without the knee injuries.
Rivals.com class recruiting rank: No. 40
States represented (7): Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
Decommitted: Trayion Durham (Kent State)
Transferred: Devin Gaulden (Wake Forest) and James Adeyanju (Central Washington)
NFL Draft Picks: Gordon, Derek Watt
First-Team All-Americans: Gordon
LAST THOUGHT
Very little attrition from this group, aside from two late transfers and a few others who didn't play their final season (Ray Ball, Austin Maly). Gordon and walk-ons Joel Stave (all-time wins leader with 31 victories) and Alex Erickson saved this class, which was loaded with in-state scholarship prospects (nine). Looking back, this group could have been remembered very differently had Bret Bielema snagged Jacoby Brissett in the hours after Signing Day in 2011.
Some of the bigger gets at the time - Adeyanju, Jesse Hayes, Jake Keefer, Ray Ball and A.J. Jordan - had rather unproductive careers at UW. The more unheralded prospects, however, were solid contributors, a list that included Sam Arneson, Derek Watt, Tyler Marz, Derek Landisch, Darius Hillary, Jordan Fredrick and Kenzel Doe, among others.
