If you don't believe that relationships are everything, we'll submit to you the case of the newest member of the Badgers, who committed to Wisconsin yesterday, Andrew Endicott, a kicker from Sacramento, CA who will be a preferred walk-on at Wisconsin this season.
Why do we say that? It's because the relationship that now UW tight ends & special teams assistant Jeff Genk had with Endicott at his previous stop at Nevada-Reno that got Endicott to Wisconsin. Genk had recruited him hard there and Endicott was set to attend school there, committing to the Wolfpack during the 2012 season.
That all changed with the coaching shuffle that occurred right before the start of spring football camp with Jay Boulware leaving for Oklahoma and Genk coming to Wisconsin. One of Genk's first calls was to Endicott to let him know there was a preferred walk-on spot open at his new coaching home.
Endicott made his trip to Wisconsin in April to tour the campus and kick for the coaches. Most of us didn't hear anything after that kicking session, despite his reportedly impressive showing. However he made up his mind just in time to enroll for the summer making the switch to the Badgers official on Friday.
According to a report from BadgerBlitz.com Endicott has a lot of family living in the Chicago area as well as in Wisconsin and playing in the Big Ten was a dream for him.
With Wisconsin adding another kicker in this class (they have three on the roster already) one has to wonder what it means for the likes of Kyle French and Jack Russell. After all, French is just a junior and Russell just a sophomore. However, you'd expect a guy like this to come in and compete at the very least.
You don't bring in a new face like this if you are happy with what you're seeing out of a position group like kicker and one that is as young as UW's is. French showed well in the spring game itself, but both Russell and he were inconsistent at best all throughout spring game. Keep an eye out for this to be an interesting battle, one that most didn't expect to see coming this fall.
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