This Week in Badgers: Hello Darlin' Nice to See You
This Week in Badgers: Season 1, Episode 36
Welcome to This Week in Badgers where we WON'T talk about my growing-by-the-day panic that the 2020 College Football season will not happen and the sport that we love has been changed forever, but instead WILL talk a lot about recruiting, uniforms and a deep dive into Lee Evans.
First, let’s get into some emails after the incredibly enjoyable “Weird Badger Draft” with Rich.
From Wando’s mouth I can confirm Herby puked upstairs and was dragged out by others - Name Redacted
Well HELLO there.
Do I remember correctly that Antonio Williams has a Motion W tattoo? - Zac H
I also remember this! I can’t find it anywhere online, anybody else?
If you're looking for ideas for a future newsletter: Badgers for whom you have an irrational hate - John H
Man this is a good question but probably something better asked 6 beers deep at the Main Depot and not in a public Newsletter. I miss when bars were open.
Thanks to everyone who commented and voted my draft over Rich’s. I love you all.
Recruiting
Welcome Antwan Roberts, a RB from Hendersonville, TN!
Hendersonville is outside of Nashville and is known for being home to many famous Nashville musicians including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Taylor Swift and Twitty City, the late Conway Twitty estate.
A lot of my friends in this business said ‘Conway, you’ve lost your mind.’ And I can understand how they feel, but they haven’t been as close to this concept as I have.
“I understand how you feel, but you haven't been as close to this concept as I have” is absolutely my new life motto.
Anyways where were we, Antwan Roberts, yes the RB.
Wait if I can go back to Twitty, he also had a Burger restaurant of course called "Twitty Burger" and I plan on making the namesake burger while on quarantine.
Ok with that out of my system, Antwan Roberts is a low 3 Star recruit, but obviously someone the Badgers identified early and its always nice when they're able to get their guy. Roberts joins Acker and Crawford to make 3 RBs in the 2021 class, though he seems to break a little news about that in this Athletic interview:
“We had a conversation about that,” Roberts said of his talks with Wisconsin’s coaches. “One might play safety and the other one is going to be a linebacker.
So that’s notable (or not, who knows) if you’re like me and already projecting the 2024 depth chart. As an aside, if I were a super athletic HS kid who wanted to play in the NFL it would seem to make more sense to go the DB/LB route than RB, interesting to see how it shakes out.
The Badgers haven’t really recruited Tennessee much, they did get Isaac Smith in the last class but Rafa Gaglianone and Curt Phillips were the most recent recruits before then.
Michigan State Taking Aim at Wisconsin
The recruiting shutdown has especially affected schools with new coaches. Imagine starting from scratch in February and not being able to visit or have kids visit your campus until next fall at the earliest.
Michigan State is one school feeling that pressure and had zero recruits for the 2021 class going into April before recently adding three low 3 Star guys, and perhaps as a result they’ve been more aggressive going after Wisconsin HS kids with recent offers, including:
Current commits Loyal Crawford and Ayo Adebogun
Garrett Gillette, at TE from Mukwonago
JaVaughn Byrd, a S from Milwaukee currently committed to Northern Illinois
There might be something with Crawford, especially if they promise that he can play RB and Wisconsin doesn’t, but Gillette/Byrd don’t seem to be on Wisconsin’s radar and the Badgers seem to be solid with Adebogun.
2022 Class Hype
The Wisconsin 2022 class is starting to pick up all kinds of hype with 6 guys in the early 247 rankings which is crazy for Wisconsin, as Jesse Temple does a good job of pointing out (for non-subscribers: Wisconsin has averaged about 1 per year). B5Q has a good rundown of these prospects and some other top guys Wisconsin has interest in.
Obviously I’ll take ALL of those guys but the way Wisconsin has been rolling with OL recruiting I’m most interested in the non-OL guys like Isaac Hamm, Braelon Allen and Jerry Cross. High rated recruits will also invite some recruiting battles against Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan and whoever else. It's been a long time since they lost an in-state guy so hope the hot streak continues.
Other Recruiting Stuff Because That is All That is Going on Right Now
Feel like I get a TJ Bollers update every week, he’s down to his top 6 which includes Wisconsin. He’s from Iowa but his top 6 doesn’t include Iowa, I assume because they don’t play a 3-4. Ouch.
My favorite recruit so far has been Markus Allen. He posted a Top 10 with Wisconsin in it, then immediately posted a Recruitment Still Open tweet with 21 schools, then did a remarkable video with his Top 8 without Wisconsin in it, and continues to post about new offers. Feels like a throwback to the Gary Andersen days.
Jake at AllBadgers had a good recruiting update on some other Big Ten schools which I enjoyed. I’m guilty of only focusing on the Badgers so am using the downtime to gain more familiarity with what’s going on with other schools.
Looking around the conference, Ohio State has the best 2021 class in the country so far with an average rating of 95.34, Wisconsin has had a total of 9 guys with a rating higher than 95 in the 20 year history of these rankings. Ohio State is playing a different sport.
BUT, Wisconsin is doing quite well, They're very close but slightly behind Penn State, Michigan and Nebraska, and ahead of everyone else. So basically like every other recent year.
We talk about big picture stuff a lot and I do think Wisconsin has closed the recruiting gap somewhat with the non-Ohio State schools in the conference. Looking at average star ratings they were 5th in the conference in 2019 and 2020. Which doesn’t sound like a big jump but consider they were 8th and 9th in 2010/2011, both fairly typical Bielema recruiting years. Put another way, they seem to be in more recruiting battles with Nebraska, Michigan and Penn State whereas 10 years ago it was Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Progress.
Other Stuff
Enjoyed Rovell getting dunked on, Auerbach's numbers match what I would have guessed
Jaypo had some quotes from Chris McIntosh on the status of the 2020 season. Nothing really notable there, but thought it semi-interesting they let McIntosh handle the PR for this one after Alvarez was maybe a little more blunt than he needed to be last week.
Friend of the Newsletter JR Radcliffe has been putting out top Wisconsin sports moments articles every day. He ran the list by me before publishing and took zero of my suggestions, but it's good nonetheless. The look back at the Minnesota Blocked Punt game is very well done and worth your time.
The Correct Answer on the Uniform Tweet
Heilprin Tweeted out the one of those “Pick 3” things going around about the uniform and there were a lot of bad replies to this.
To set the record straight:
#1 is in. Omitting the jersey they’ve worn for decades is trying too hard.
We can eliminate 6 & 7 right away. These are uniforms created by marketing departments and have zero history or reason for them other than “something different.” They have their time and place, but they don't make the top 3.
#8 does have some history, but its way, way old history and nobody alive remembers them wearing them. Gone.
So now we have to pick 2 between the Paul Chryst, Barry Alvarez and Gary Andersen away uniforms and the 1962 throwbacks.
I really love the 1962 throwbacks, especially the all red jersey and single stripe on the pants. The helmets though, look a little goofy in 2020. The W on the front keeps them from being just like Alabama so it’s needed, but looks a little too much MS Paint for my liking. GONE.
I’m going to keep the all-whites because we need some diversity and can't have two of the 3 be red pants uniforms.
That leaves the Andersen Reds vs the Alvarez Reds, and I’m giving the nod to the Andersen uniforms here. The Andersen red helmet is SHARP and should be utilized more often. I know the use of black always gets uniform people riled up, but it looks good here and differentiates from the other red helmets that were a little too close to Indiana. The black shoes with them are a great touch.
I realize Heilprin probably threw this together in 5 seconds, but he really could have used more 80s representation. Look at that big block W helmet! Beautiful! It should be the regular helmet! I will die on this hill!
I found the above photo on this website from a guy who had a hand in those 2005 retros. I had forgotten how cool and big of deal the first game at the "new" Camp Randall was. That website was a fun time machine journey both reliving that day and remembering what websites were like in 2005.
Camp Randall News and is the South End Zone Safe?
News is so slow that Camp Randall installing railings is making news. There's an active Buckyville thread with a guy mad at this because it means we're getting soft as a society or something, but they're hand railings, whatever.
It does make me wonder about the proposed South End Zone project, which I was lukewarm on. Athletic Departments are getting hit hard by all the cancellations and fearing devastation if football games are cancelled this fall. I find it hard to imagine they start a multi-million dollar football renovation in this environment, but I don't believe there has been any official word.
Let’s Remember Some Guys
There was this Quote Tweet going around a few weeks ago asking people to name the top players at their position.
One thing it made me think about is that there can be healthy debate about the “best” Badger at almost every position. Almost.
Expanding on that tweet, but looking at all positions:
Safety: Its Jim Leonhard, who was amazing though maybe a little overrated because of the INT stat *ducks to avoid the flying debris hurled at me*, but Jason Doering, and 1993 Scott Nelson are in the discussion. Maybe Henry, Caputo or Dixon if you want to go more modern.
CB: Jamar Fletcher is my all-time favorite but Troy Vincent and Jack Ikegwuonu are right there with him. Nick Nelson and Derrick Tindal not far off.
LB: Way too many to count
DL: JJ Watt is there, but I’d still argue Wendell Bryant was the better college player
OL: Impossible. Multiple Outland Trophy winners. The answer is Joe Thomas but the drop-off between him and a few others isn’t enormous
RB: Montee Ball won the Doak Walker and was a Heisman Finalist, he’s not even in the discussion. Stacked.
TE: Travis Beckum seems obvious to me, but Lance Kendricks has a case if we’re looking at blocking abilities. Owen Daniels and Garrett Graham are very accomplished as well.
QB: Ok, this one is obviously Russ, but Tolzien is in the ballpark.
WR: Its Lee Evans and Al Toon and then a CANYON until we find the next guy on the list.
Its hard to put Al Toon (and Pat Richter if we go back further) in context today. Like all passing stats from the 80s, the numbers don’t look that amazing today. However when he left Wisconsin he held every receiving record and was All-B10 1st Team twice. Later drafted #10 overall with a great NFL career before retiring early.
You can’t argue against Al Toon, so let’s set him aside for a bit.
Consider when Lee Evans left Wisconsin he had these records:
Most Yards in a career, season and game.
Most Receptions in a season.
Most TDs in a career, season and game.
Most games in a row with a reception (38)
And he still has those records today. It's incredible.
Despite not playing much as a Freshman and Sophomore he still has the career record for yards and TDs, 17 years after he left.
Only 4 players in UW history have 1,000 yards receiving season, Evans has 2 of them. He the best two individual seasons in school history.
Yes, he played with Jim Sorgi but no one would argue he was QB dependent or a system guy, or the Badgers did anything different in 2001 and 2003 than they have done in every other year. He just put up enormous numbers that I don’t see anyone touching today.
Quintez Cephus was amazing last year, he had 3 games with over 100 yards receiving. Lee Evans AVERAGED 128 per game in 2001. Absurd.
Evans obviously had the physical skills to back up the production. Even after a torn ACL took out a year he went #13 overall in the NFL Draft and was one of only 5 Badger WRs to ever go in the top 3 rounds and only one other 1st rounder (Toon)
Let’s also consider this absolutely amazing headline and try to imagine the star RB and star WR making this news today.
I understand why the conversation on Best Badgers Ever centers around the RBs but I’m going to make a pitch today that when you look at Lee Evans in comparison to other players at his position, he belongs ahead of many RBs and is one of the top 5 Badger players of all time.
Lee Evans, remembered.
That will do it for this week. I went the whole Newsletter without mentioning the upcoming NFL Draft, which I consider to be a minor accomplishment. Thanks for reading, feel free to reply to this with any comments, suggestions, etc.