5/9/2018 football Edit

Three-star WR Nolan Groulx decommits from Wisconsin

Jon McNamara • BadgerBlitz

Editor

Jon McNamara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has covered UW athletics since 2002 and has worked at Rivals.com since 2006.

Wednesday night, Wisconsin lost a second key member from its heralded 2019 recruiting class.

Three-star wide receiver Nolan Groulx announced he backed away from his pledge to the Badgers. This comes just days after three-star safety Bryson Shaw announced his flip from UW to Ohio State.

A 5-foot-11 and 185-pound junior, Groulx committed to Wisconsin in late January over offers from Duke, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and West Virginia, among others.

"Definitely the relationships I had with the coaches, from coach Gilmore, to coach (Paul) Chryst, to coach Saeed (Khalif), they all treated me great," Groulx told BadgerBlitz.com at the time. "The campus is great, along with a great fan-base. Just the fact that they play on big stage all the time and being ranked high, I wanted to be a part of that. We have a great class coming in and I wanted to be a part of that. It just felt right.

"Coach (Ted) Gilmore has been to the school several times just to see me, which meant a lot because that’s not necessarily his recruiting area. He’s been totally honest with me throughout the whole process and the relationship with his players are great. He wants to turn his players into men, and that was a big factor for me, along with my parents."

A handful of schools, such as Wake Forest, Stanford and Georgia, have kept in contact with Groulx this spring. According to Rivals.com's Adam Friedman at the Rivals Camp Series presented by adidas stop in April:

"The Bulldogs have extended their reach north into the Carolinas plenty in recent years, with star players such as Todd Gurley among the many recruiting wins for the Dawgs over the years. On Sunday, Georgia was on the mind of several top performers at the event, including wide receiver MVP Nolan Groulx. The Wisconsin commit said the Dawgs have been in regular contact, and his connection with wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton is a reason why he still has an eye on UGA despite his commitment to the Badgers. Georgia hasn’t offered, but if it does it could be a situation to watch."

The Badgers now have seven commitments in the 2019 recruiting class, including one from a projected wide out in Marcus Graham.