Wisconsin mailbag: Which young football recruits will have an impact on 2025 season?

March is nearly upon us, which means the return of spring football practice and the start of the NCAA Tournament. That means Wisconsin’s football and basketball teams will be busy during the next few weeks. You had questions for the Badgers mailbag.

Here are the answers.

Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Luke Fickell’s first two recruiting classes in football were impressive. Which players from those classes do you see making an impact in 2025? — Edward B.

It’s easier to project Wisconsin’s 2024 recruiting class because I’ve seen those players to some degree for a year, while many members of the 2025 class will begin their first spring practice on March 13. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Heywood works his way into the starting left tackle spot vacated by Jack Nelson. I also like Emerson Mandell’s future as an interior lineman.

At running back, Darrion Dupree may very well be the starter, with Dilin Jones earning snaps. There’s a reason why the Badgers didn’t add a transfer portal running back this offseason, and it has to do with the young talent Wisconsin already has at the position. Kyan Berry-Johnson could be the No. 2 slot receiver behind Trech Kekahuna.

On defense from the 2024 class, outside linebacker Thomas Heiberger is right up there. Outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell said last preseason that Heiberger would have had a rotational role if not for an injury he sustained. Even though Wisconsin revamped its defensive line, I expect Dillan Johnson to be in the mix for snaps.

For the 2025 class, quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. did mention receiver Eugene Hilton Jr. on a recent episode of “The Camp” as someone who had stood out this preseason. There are 15 early enrollees, so the next two months will provide great insight into where things stand. I’m eager to see linebacker Mason Posa, who recently won his fourth consecutive New Mexico state wrestling title. Posa will arrive on campus this summer.

I am impressed with the number of highly rated four-star recruits Wisconsin football has amassed. Are we chasing after stars and not paying close enough attention to competitiveness, attitude and character? Having so many leave and not uphold their promises makes me think we might be ignoring some character traits and the quality of the person we’re recruiting. — Randall L.

I don’t look at the portal departures through the lens of possible character flaws within players. First of all, the staff generally spends months, if not years, building relationships with players and learning about their backgrounds. If it’s going to be a bad fit or there are red flags raised during that process, the staff will adjust accordingly. I go back to something Fickell said when I talked to him last week that he has continued to stress: “It’s not the best 11, it’s the 11 best that do s— together that give us a chance.” Talent matters, but so does an ability to fit within the framework of the team Fickell wants to build.

We’re simply in an era in which players are less patient because of how easy it is to leave and start over somewhere else. Multiple players talked about the importance of playing (or not playing) within the first two years at Wisconsin when I wrote a story about the mass exodus in the 2023 recruiting class. I don’t view that as a character issue as much as it is the reality of college football. It’s why Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard says repeatedly that he builds his roster one year at a time.

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There are other issues at play. Wisconsin can recruit right over a young prospect if there is a veteran portal prospect available. Loyalty and development are important, but so is the business of winning. There’s a critical balance to strike when bringing in talent, too.

I do wonder whether something is lost at a place like Wisconsin when the Badgers sign as many national prospects as they have. This is speculative, and every player is different, but the ties that bind them to Wisconsin aren’t the same as someone who grew up following the program. That doesn’t mean in-state players won’t leave. We’ve seen it the last two offseasons through the portal. But it’s worth noting that Wisconsin’s roster of in-state players decreased during the past decade from 58 in 2014 to 37 last season.

Ultimately, Wisconsin needs to find the best players it can to compete in a challenging Big Ten and hope those players develop quickly to help the Badgers win.

The Badgers’ basketball team has had issues defending against big men (i.e. Michigan, UCLA and now Oregon). What do the Badgers need to do to make this not their “kryptonite” going into March? — Dave F.

Not every big man has given Wisconsin trouble. But the three games you reference certainly were problematic for the Badgers. Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin went for 24 points, UCLA’s Aday Mara came off the bench to score 22 points on 7-of-7 field goal shooting and Oregon’s Nate Bittle scored 23 points.

Those kinds of matchups come down to how aggressive and impactful Steven Crowl can be on both ends. He fouled out of the Michigan game defending Goldin and scored just 2 points. Crowl uncharacteristically had six turnovers against Oregon.

You can go down the list of players whose performance will dictate Wisconsin’s postseason fate. John Tonje and John Blackwell have been fabulous. But when Crowl is on, it can take Wisconsin to another level. Consider that he had no rebounds in the first matchup against Illinois, a loss, that led to Gard calling him out in the postgame news conference. Tonje led Wisconsin with 31 points in the rematch, but Crowl finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The bigger team-wide concern when Wisconsin reaches the NCAA Tournament is what happens if the Badgers play a pressure defense that features a bunch of long, athletic bodies. Maybe a 77-73 overtime loss to Oregon was an anomaly, but it’s hard to ignore the way Wisconsin collapsed after blowing a 15-point second-half lead. Wisconsin committed a season-high 17 turnovers, Tonje was well-defended from 3, and the Badgers looked out of sorts late.

Wisconsin has the scoring ability and quicker pace to overcome more mistakes than previous Badgers teams. But, as we’ve seen through the years, a stretch of bad play in the Big Dance can lead to a quick exit.

In your interview with Fickell, he seemed to admit that he and Phil Longo had different expectations of what the offense would be like from day one. How is that possible? How can a new coach radically change a program’s offensive identity and not even be in lockstep with his staff on what the new identity would be? — Vincent V.

It’s hard not to see that as a failure on Fickell’s part given how important of a role Longo was going to have in the success of the program. It sounded to me from our conversation that, while Fickell hired Longo to run the scheme he always had, Fickell also expected there to be a greater level of flexibility in making changes. It became clear to Fickell that wasn’t going to happen in the way he wanted.

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I thought it was telling that Fickell suggested players stopped believing in the offensive philosophy and acknowledged, “That’s where some of the changes have to be made, and we’ve got to get us pointed in another direction.” I also think Fickell believed Wisconsin’s portal talent level, particularly at quarterback, would allow Longo to have more success. At North Carolina, Longo had Sam Howell and Drake Maye. Those types of players make up for a lot. Wisconsin just did not have that type of performance at quarterback, which is part of how Fickell came to the realization that the system wasn’t going to work.

“I just think there’s some of that like I said humbling experience of saying what do we need to get ourselves back to a little bit?” Fickell said. “And a part of that is systematically being able to do some things that give you a better chance to put some more on the guys up front as opposed to everything in the system on the quarterback. I think that’s just so hard to live your life.

“You can watch the NFL and say, ‘Well, yeah, the best quarterbacks are going to be the ones in the championship.’ Yeah, but how do you want to live? And what system in this world can you solely rely upon? The quarterback, I know it’s the most important position. But you need things that give you a chance to be able to be successful without just that.”

Fickell wasn’t wrong for wanting to revamp the offense. But what we expect to see from new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes seems to make a lot more sense based on Wisconsin’s personnel. And we know Fickell has to get it right this time because there won’t be an opportunity to hire a third offensive coordinator.

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There are zero Badgers who have declared for the draft in most top 100 draft prospects lists. Are there any Badgers on the team now who you think could be top 100 in next year’s draft? Not having any NFL-caliber players is as big a part of UW’s shortcomings as coaching has been. Maybe more. — Ferd T.

I went back and looked at the last 15 NFL drafts to see what positions generated the most picks among Badgers players. Fifty-four players were drafted during that stretch. Not surprisingly, the group with the most draft picks was the offensive line with 16. Next came linebackers (11), defensive linemen (six), running backs and defensive backs (five) and then tight ends (four).

If we just look at the defense, it’s easy to see how much the front seven impacted Wisconsin’s run of success. Linebackers Chris Borland, Joe Schobert, T.J. Watt, T.J. Edwards (undrafted but currently starring for the Bears), Zack Baun and Leo Chenal all earned some form of All-America honors. Wisconsin simply did not have that kind of talent the past couple of seasons under Fickell and Mike Tressel. The same goes for the defensive line, which Fickell told me last week was essentially the weak link late last season.

I do think Wisconsin has NFL talent in the secondary with cornerbacks Ricardo Hallman and Nyzier Fourqurean, although perhaps not top-100 level. But if Wisconsin wants to return to being an elite-level defense, it has to start up front.

Offensively, right tackle Riley Mahlman could work his way up the draft board with a strong season. Other players with pro potential could include offensive linemen Joe Brunner and Jake Renfro, tight end transfer Tanner Koziol and wide receiver Vinny Anthony, depending on how well the offense performs. But you are right that Wisconsin’s best teams have had a bunch of NFL-caliber players. Returning to that standard will help put the Badgers back on the right path.

(Top photo of Darrion Dupree: Ed Mulholland / Getty Images)

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