Consider the days of a slowly maturing courtship between Wisconsin football and recruits a thing of the past… at least in terms of offering a player. That much is becoming clear as the Badgers begin to look down the road a bit in shaping the program in the image of it's new coaching staff.
Offering sophomores wasn't a common occurrence of the past to say the least. In the past offers going out to sophomores were likely guys that were in-state and had a long term relationship with the university and the coaching staff (ie: George Panos & Craig Evans) and it was usually only one or two a year, but with the new staff that trend is changing as they currently have seven offers out to the class of 2015.
Wisconsin fans have been programmed since the time of Barry Alvarez to expect a slow build of the relationship before offers were given out to kids, but under new coach Gary Andersen that philosophy has done a near 180 degree turn.
Both have their merits, and it can just be a matter of style, but Andersen and Co. see a clear advantage of targeting high level kids earlier and working to build that relationship from the offer out, instead of the other way around and it may be working to their advantage already.
As long as the staff can evaluate kids well, are good judges of character out of the box, and notice talent early on what's the harm? It seems to be paying off already as top 2015 QB target (and most likely the only offer to go out to that class) Austin Kafentzis is saying all the right things about the early offer and Wisconsin making it clear they are targeting him and only him.
Sure, there is some coach speak involved and this is the recruiting world we are talking about, but Andersen and his coaching staff have a clear plan of attack ahead to them and part of that is identifying kids earlier in the process and working that relationship for a longer period of time with an offer already on the table.
Outside of Kafentzis there are three other recruits who have the Badgers knee deep in the mix with some of the best recruiting names out there. Take for instance expected top-level RB talent Jordan Scarlett (Ft. Lauderdale, FL/University School) and linebacker/ATH Osa Masina (Salt Lake City, UT/Brighton) who already have the Badgers in their top 5 schools and are in amongst the likes of Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, Alabama, Ohio State, Miami, and LSU.
The latest offer to go out was to Ricky DeBerry (Richmond, VA/St. Christopher's School), an outside linebacker from a prestigious program. According to a recent report from Badger247 ($), DeBerry is at the least intrigued by the offer and it's made an impression on him that it came so early.
Does that mean the Badgers are guaranteed to win those battles? Of course not, but unlike the past the Badgers are now more willing to put themselves square in the middle of any battle in the country for a player they identify as Wisconsin material at an earlier stage. It's also worth noting that the early offers all have one common response – players that are taking notice of Wisconsin much more seriously at an earlier stage in the process and that can't be underestimated.
As fans, it's good to know that coach Andersen is at least proving with his actions that he meant what he said when he was introduced and laid it out that Wisconsin wouldn't be afraid to get into and win any recruiting battle in the country.
Change can be hard to get used to, but in this case change could have the Badgers reaping the rewards of quicker identification of top recruiting targets. Only time will tell if this is about setting things up for the future in key areas like Arizona, Florida, Utah, and Virginia/DC/Maryland or if these early offers will truly allow players to see Wisconsin as a true option.
For now though get used to this change and get ready for a few intense recruiting battles. Perhaps things leading up to national signing day are about to become a whole lot more interesting and who doesn't love that kind of offseason fun?
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