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. 8 on the rankings: The Class of 2010.
Total Points: 19
Top recruit: To go into the heart of South Florida and land a top running back was an impressive feat, and James White gave Wisconsin four very good years on campus. The former three-star prospect played right away behind John Clay and Montee Ball and into a starter's role as a senior. It was that season in which White earned consensus second-team All-Big Ten honors. He finished his career ranked No. 4 all-time at Wisconsin with 4,015 rushing yards and No. 3 all-time at UW in rushing touchdowns (45).
Best surprise: Kyle Costigan didn't have any Power 5 scholarships coming out of high school, and the decision to offer late certainly paid off for the Badgers.
Biggest bust: Big things were expected from Joseph Brennan, who never did much at Wisconsin or Towson.
Wanted to see more from: Manasseh Garner, who had the ability to play on either side of the ball when he arrived on campus.
Rivals.com class recruiting rank: No. 87
States represented (8): Wisconsin, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania
Transferred: Bryce Gilbert (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), Frank Tamakloe (William and Mary), Jake Irwin (Cal-Poly), Cameron Ontko (Cal-Poly), Joseph Brennan (Towson), Jeff Lewis (Illinois State), Jameson Wright (Bethune-Cookman), Manasseh Garner (Pittsburgh) and Joe McNamara (Akron).
NFL Draft Picks: James White, Beau Allen, Rob Havenstein
First-Team All-Americans: Costigan, Havenstein
LAST THOUGHT
There were too many misses in this group, both nationally - Brennan, Tamakloe, Wright, Cadogan, Hammond, Harrison and McNamara - and inside the state - Gilbert, Lewis and Mason. In Wisconsin's defense, Brennan, Tamakloe and Cadogan were all considered big gets for the Badgers at the time of their respective commitments. Irwin and Ontko both earned offers at camp and may have had nice careers at UW had it not been for off-the-field issues.
Looking back, White and Allen should have been four-star prospects - their tape and offer sheets backed it up. Costigan and Havenstein also outplayed their ranking, with French and Trotter proving to be excellent gets as preferred walk-ons. Jean, Zagzebski, Herring and Lewallen were all serviceable. But, overall, this huge class certainly wont go down as one of the best in this time frame.
