The morning of Dec. 3, the eve of national signing day, Wisconsin was projected to have four pure slot receivers on its 2025 roster.

It now has just two a little over 24 hours later.

For all of the deficiencies facing this team, the Badgers were set up well for the present and future at the position, with a freshman (Cameron Miller), a redshirt freshman (Kyan Berry-Johnson), a redshirt sophomore (Trech Kekahuna) and a redshirt senior (Will Pauling) all expected to be in the fold.

The afternoon of the following day, Wisconsin has just two of those pieces after Miller announced his de-commitment and Kekahuna entered the transfer portal. Converted tailback Nate White may have also been an option there, but he is also headed to the portal.

As it stands, Wisconsin's slot receiver room remains serviceable but certainly lacks the depth and foundation it had just days ago. If the position remains intact and doesn't suffer any more attrition, it still has a proven playmaker and leader in Pauling, who has one more year of eligibility, as well as a talented young option in Berry-Johnson.

And yet, that's not nearly enough to feel comfortable about the slot moving forward. Pauling troublingly regressed this season, seeing his statistics drop in every category except for, ironically, drops, where he notched a career-high nine, according to Pro Football Focus. He also missed the final two games of the season with injury.

Berry-Johnson, meanwhile, remains a massive question mark. His talent, namely his twitch and elusiveness, is undeniable, but he had a slow start to his collegiate career. He was reprimanded in spring camp for maturity-related off-the-field issues, and only played 21 snaps across three games without logging a catch this fall.

To fill out the slot position for 2025 and on, Wisconsin has two main strategies at its disposal: develop the players on the roster or hit the transfer portal.

Let's start with the first option, the option head coach Luke Fickell has advocated for since his very first press conference in Madison. Of the receivers projected to be on the roster, Tyrell Henry seems like the most likely candidate. The 6-foot rising senior worked in both the slot and out wide during Wisconsin's offseason practices, although of his seven pass snaps this fall, all of them came on the perimeter, per PFF. Still, he at least has the theoretical skillset (short area quickness) to get some run on the inside. Of course, after catching just one pass in 2024, he's liable to skip town as well.

As for players currently on the roster...that's about it. Especially since Nate White, the one-time scat back who began to work with the receivers this offseason, entered the transfer portal, the rest of the players currently in the room project as boundary threats.

As for the portal, there will of course be hundreds of receivers seeking new homes this winter and into the spring window. Many of them have yet to announce their intention to enter, as the portal doesn't open until Dec. 9. A few that stand out right off the bat? Former Fresno State Bulldog Raylen Sharpe and former Northern Illinois Husky Trayvon Rudolph look like intriguing early targets, but this is all speculation. And it's not like Wisconsin has had great success with transfer receivers under Fickell (think Henry, CJ Williams, Quincy Burroughs, ect).

Wisconsin also must attempt to shore up the slot while in the midst of an offensive coordinator search. It's already hard enough to lure receivers to Madison given Wisconsin's lack of a proven passing attack. When your play-caller drops quotes like "I think the thing I love the most after my wife and kids are slot receivers," that certainly helps. But Phil Longo was ran out of town with two games left in the season. You can't sell an offensive vision that doesn't exist yet.

In the early stages of the portal, with players hightailing it out of Madison left and right, there's way more questions than answers. But with the departures of Miller and Kekauna, several things have been made clear:

Pauling's absence wasn't all that noticeable in Wisconsin's final two games for several reasons. First, he wasn't nearly the same play-maker that he'd been in year one in Madison. What's more, the offense as a whole was atrocious. Finally, the Badgers had an underutilized young weapon in Kekauna that fans were itching to see.

Now, Pauling is as critical to this room as ever before. Given his down season, his one remaining year of eligibility and his relationship with Fickell, it would be a surprise if Pauling did anything but return to Madison in 2025. Still, anything is possible in this day and age.

All of the sudden, Berry-Johnson is in line for all the work he can handle in the slot as the room currently stands. The receiver's (albeit limited) snaps in 2024 show that the staff believes he's taken some steps forward maturity-wise, or they just didn't want to risk benching him all year lest he enter the portal after one season. Either way, the former four-star prospect's value to this room has skyrocketed in recent days.

This was already a given, but Wisconsin's next play-caller is going to need to bring some talent with him and/or attract talent via the portal immediately. Kekahuna won't be the last playmaker to jump ship. Just like how Longo's hiring came with a wave of quarterback signees, the new coordinator must bring some luggage with him. It doesn't need to be Louis Vuitton (à la Deion Sanders), but some Burberry certainly couldn't hurt.

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