Recruiting Anniversary: Bart Houston

Recruiting a high school quarterback is different than almost every other position for a college coaching staff. Typically only taking one such player per class, highly-regarded quarterbacks are being targeted earlier, deciding earlier and becoming cornerstones to build a recruiting class around.

Bart Houston was that player for Wisconsin in its 2012 class.

A class that only has 12 commits, one of the smallest in modern Wisconsin’s history, Houston’s spring commitment was big for the program. It gave UW a player who participated in the Elite 11 quarterback camp (reserved for only the best of the best) and a quarterback who was viewed among the top 15 players nationally at his position. Furthermore, UW tapped into California and a powerful high school program for a proven winner.

On the nine-year anniversary of Houston’s commitment, we look back on his recruiting anniversary.

Knowing he was going to have a small class in 2012, head coach Bret Bielema’s aggressive start in the cycle was already paying off. The Badgers landed three four-star prospects in just over a month: offensive lineman Dan Voltz (the No.8 offensive guard nationally), tailback Vonte Jackson (considered a better tailback than his high school teammate Melvin Gordon) and outside linebacker Vince Biegel (the top-ranked player in the state and the No.3 outside linebacker nationally).

Houston held scholarship offers from Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, San Diego State, UCLA, Utah and Washington. Fun fact: Houston’s recruiter at SDSU was Andy Ludwig, who would eventually become his offensive coordinator at Wisconsin.

Wisconsin really liked Gunnar Kiel, but the five-star prospect from Indiana committed to Notre Dame in January 2012. That turned offensive coordinator Paul Chryst’s attention to Houston. Using contacts he made when he was an assistant coach at Oregon State, Chryst worked diligently to recruit Houston, who felt a connection with Chryst and with Wisconsin’s pro-style offense that fit his skill set.

Houston took an unofficial four-day visit to Wisconsin during spring practices and had dinner with starting quarterback Scott Tolzien, who filled Houston in on all aspects of the program and the quarterback position at Wisconsin. He also toured the engineering program and watched practices.

“It was real high tempo,” Houston told me after the visit. “I liked how they practiced and how they lifted. Everything is high tempo, and I really like that. Coach Bielema talked to me about why coming to Wisconsin was such a good thing for me. He really wanted to emphasis that there were a lot of good people at Wisconsin. There are a lot of good people there, including Tolzien.”

Houston was planning on taking more visits and camps with the eye of cutting his list at the start of summer, then committing by the end of summer. However, his visit to Madison left the right impression on him that the Badgers were the perfect hit.

“It felt right, it was the right time to do it and Wisconsin came out on top after weighing all the positives from my offers. My parents, especially my mom, are really excited. She’s a little sad that her boy is leaving, but I guess that’s what every mom has to experience. My teammates are all happy for me and are excited to get back on the field with me and start winning again.”

Houston has that “it-factor” that college coaches want in their quarterback: all the intangibles, the pocket poise and leadership as well as the mental toughness. He has a rifle on him and gets rid of the ball as quickly as anyone. He does drop his arm a little too much at the point of release and needs to work on that. Houston has great mobility and won’t hesitate to drop his shoulder on you. The best thing he has going for him is he’s just a winner. His best football is still ahead of him, especially as a passer, since his team ran the veer. He also didn’t put up eye-popping numbers, primarily because he rarely played into the second half because of blowouts. He could come in and play early, and he generally plays mistake-free football each week.

In the two seasons following his redshirt, Houston played quarterback in five games and specialty punter in four, hardly showing signs of the elite quarterback the previous staff recruited. But after earning the backup job to Joel Stave in 2015, Houston showed his potential when he replaced Stave (head injury) and went 22-for-33 for 232 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in a win at Illinois. That performance earned him the starting quarterback for the 2016 season opener at Lambeau Field against No.5 LSU.

Houston (who was named after Hall-of-Fame Packers quarterback Bart Starr) helped the Badgers beat the Tigers and had a 186.4 efficiency rating the following week against Akron, but his struggles against Georgia State made Chryst lean towards redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook. Houston wasn’t used for the next month until Wisconsin started to utilize a two-quarterback system over the final two months. Given another chance, Houston regained controlled of the position. Over his last four games of season, Houston completed 77.4 percent of his passes (41 of 53) for 558 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Getting the start in his final game, Houston tied the Cotton Bowl Classic record for completion percentage by completing 11 of 12 passes (91.7 percent) for 159 yards in leading Badgers to win over No. 12 Western Michigan.

Houston completed 125 of 192 passes (65.1 percent) for 1,540 yards and nine touchdowns his senior season, as the Badgers went 4-1 in games he started.

Going undrafted in the 2017 draft, Houston had a tryout with the Oakland Raiders and eventually signed a free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Later released, Houston also had a tryout with the Chicago Bears but never made an in-season roster.

Houston won’t go down as the greatest quarterback in the history of Wisconsin, but he might go down as one of the toughest mentally.

Houston was one of the rare breeds in college football, a highly-ranked quarterback who didn’t see things go his way and decided to stick it out instead of hitting the restart button. Houston stuck with his commitment once Chryst left to be the head coach of Pittsburgh because Bielema was still there. After Bielema left, Houston was not welcomed by new head coach Gary Andersen, who had a vision of the quarterback position being a dual-threat weapon and not a pocking passer (part of the reason why Andersen immediately recruited Tanner McEvoy to Wisconsin after he was hired).

During his time at Wisconsin, Houston played for four head coaches and three offensive coordinators. Ironically, while Houston was on campus, four quarterbacks committed to Wisconsin only to transfer a short time later for various reasons, while McEvoy agreed to a position change after he badly faltered. He was also bypassed on the depth chart despite his intangibles and talents, only to be used by Andersen as a rugby-style punter that looked more comical than cutting edge. Still, Houston was going to stick by his commitment.

“The style of play they wanted at the time was not him,” Bart’s dad, Guy, told me prior to the 2016 season opener. “I offered suggestions and ideas, but he just said whatever is going to happen is what’s going to happen. He was committed to Wisconsin and the program. We had discussion but it was mostly just me, me being the dad. We worked on (making it to college) for a decade or more, but he was adamant that he wanted to stay.”

Had UW not had to make a coaching change or athletic director Barry Alvarez hired a coach who stuck with Wisconsin’s tried-and-proven offensive philosophy, Houston’s career might have turned out differently. Even so, Houston is still one of the key figures responsible for leading the Badgers to one of their biggest regular-season victories in program history, not a bad consolation prize.