This Week in Badgers: Summer Conditioning, Recruiting Twitter, Famous New Jerseyites
This Week in Badgers: Season 1, Episode 39
Welcome to This Week in Badgers, the definitive Badgers Newsletter of our time. This week we celebrate the return of Summer conditioning, talk Defensive Line recruiting and go deep on some Kevin Crosgrove era defenses.
With college football ramping back up, what better gift for your loved ones than a subscription to This Week in Badgers! Most of the modest subscription base I have is from word of mouth so if you know someone who might enjoy this weekly Newsletter it’d mean a lot if you can pass it on. They can subscribe here.
I miss bad practice photos so, so much
Players Back!
It is official, players are returning to campus! The returns start this week with workouts beginning June 15th. More info here if you’re curious on the details of the most analyzed Summer conditioning session of all time.
I know you’re wondering if I’m going to take off work and hang out on a lawn chair outside the McClain Center to report on who I see. I’ll just say that I do have a lot of PTO stored up from the past 3 months and the summer weather in Madison is fantastic for sitting outside.
Last Weeks’ Quiz
Congrats to Logan B for killing the 2019 Quiz with 18 of a possible 20 points, narrowly beating @jory_mama who had 17. Those two were head and shoulders above the rest and Zac H was next in line with 12. In the Celebrity Column we have Rich from the Buck Around with 11, Max from the Buck Around with 8 and JR Radcliffe from the JS with 7.
I particularly enjoyed the people who used profanity to describe the Illinois game and Nate W who had this answer for the Defensive TD:
Henningsen, Torchio (there's a play in my head of a safety running very slowly and scoring at home, late, in a night game), and Baun?
I loved this because I know the EXACT play he’s thinking of and it is Joe Ferguson taking one back late against Utah State in 2017 in the world’s slowest 100 yard run on record.
Recruiting
Welcome to Mike Jarvis, a DE from Medford, NJ. Medford is about 20 miles west of Philadelphia and has a fascinating list of notable people including Calista Flockhart, Carl Lewis, Ron Jaworski, and Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams.
The Carl Lewis connection to Medford is a little bit of a stretch in my opinion. He grew up in Willingboro, NJ and moved to Houston, then California once he hit big time. In 2011 he wanted to run for State State Senate in NJ and purchased a home in Medford, but it doesn't sound like he actually lived there, instead living and voting in California like any reasonable person would. His Medford residency was challenged by his opponent and led to his eventual removal from the ballot. Carl Lewis’ 2011 State Senate run, remembered.
Anyways the Badgers recruited New Jersey pretty hard in the early Alvarez years, notably getting Lee Deramus and Ron Dayne. Recently it has been a place they go to for RBs with Berger, Taylor and Clement. The last non-QB/RB was Sherard Cadogan way back in the 2010 class.
Jarvis is a mid 3 star guy, coming in at .84 in the 247 composite, and chose the Badgers over Rutgers. If you’ve read this Newsletter enough you know, that I know, that low rated guys can and do turn out to be great and its dumb to write-off guys before they have even played their Senior year of HS Football. Jarvis could be amazing and I hope he is! Of course I do love looking at recruiting trends and it is notable that a highly rated DL is a bit of a Recruiting Unicorn for Wisconsin.
We’ve talked a lot in this space about how things seem to be cookin’ with OLB, OL, RB and even QB recruiting to an extent, but DB, WR and DL have been places where they get very good and sometimes great players, just not a ton of highly rated guys. Jarvis fits this trend from a ratings viewpoint.
I'll argue part of the reason this happens on the DL is the current 3-4 defense, which does a fantastic job showcasing LBs, sometimes at the expense of DL. There's not really a “fix” for this outside of changing the defense, which obviously shouldn’t happen. The DL in the current 3-4 system is mostly a “take up multiple blockers so the LBs can make plays” position. Only 10 of the Badgers 51 sacks last year were from guys who played on the line and Beau Allen (recruited for the 4-3) has been the only NFL Draft pick from the DL since the defensive system change in 2013.
There’s also a lot of schools that want a 300 LB super athletic DT run stuffing guy who can also rush the passer and there’s not a lot of them available. Its usually one of the more noticeable differences when looking at the Ohio State and Alabamas of the world vs the rest of college football. Such is life.
When they have been good on the DL it usually involves finding guys instate. Obviously JJ Watt, but since his time at UW they’ve pulled productive starters like Zagzebski, James, Obasih, Sheehy and most recently Keeanu Benton and Henningsen. Out of state has been a steady stream of guys in the .83-.86 range on 247, Garret Rand (.92) being the big exception.
The good news is the current roster feels like a bit of a perfect storm for DL. They’ve got great instate players in Benton and Henningsen. Loudermilk is a mid-3 star turned productive starter and Rand/Williams were nice recruiting wins. The depth behind them is more of an unknown. Mullens, Dietzen, Paez and Johnson didn’t play much last year. McDonald and Thompson arrive this Fall with Jarvis in 2021. Its nice they have numbers, we’ll find out soon what the next wave of guys looks like.
Jesse Temple had a good article on Loyal Crawford, who I feel we haven’t heard a lot about compared to other players. There has been some uneasiness on message boards about how his recruitment would end up after he received a Michigan State offer and the Badgers immediately took another RB recruit. While Crawford doesn’t exactly shut the door on talking with other schools he at least says all the right things about sticking with Wisconsin.
I can’t believe I got this far without diving into the disappearing Badger Recruiting Twitter feed! They spent a good 2 weeks hyping it up and it was gone within two days. It was the Skyler Meyers of Twitter accounts.
I obviously have no idea what happened here, my guess is they committed some minor NCAA violation by Tweeting at or about something they shouldn’t have, news reached Paul Chryst and when reminded what Twitter was and informed that if the account went away he wouldn’t have to hear about it, the account was gone.
Of course I wish nothing negative to ever happen to the Badgers, but after weeks of hype for an account with no clear objective, this is definitely the funniest outcome.
Other Stuff:
Badgers at Lambeau Update of the Week: Still On
Graham Mertz Instagram Update of the Week: Swole
Matt Belz at B5Q had a good overview of the recruiting geography under Paul Chryst. I counted 27 states in total. Some of that high number is due to the overlap with Andersen but Chryst does seem to frequently pull the random guy from Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts and other areas that aren’t classic Wisconsin recruiting territories.
Another takeaway: the Badgers are recruiting more in California, which had mostly ended after Barry Alvarez swore it off after a decade of trying and not getting much for the effort.
Jaypo had an article about the Much Hyped 2022 In-State Class™ that well, wasn’t great. Maybe its on me but I had some hopes for this one, I think there’s a larger angle than the recruiting sites cover and it would have been a great feature for the JS. But it is just a list of the guys, their offers and some other Wisconsin HS players who didn’t go to Wisconsin. I guess if you didn’t know Trae Waynes went to Michigan State you learned something.
Jake from AllBadgers pointed me to this recruits top 6 announcement, its fantastic.
Coach Duggs, explained.
I’ve seen this a lot on my Twitter feed the past couple weeks and had no idea what it meant. To help me and any confused readers, I turned to TWIB's youth correspondent @WiscoInferno for an explanation: .
It’s Dan Katz (Big Cat). Badger alum.
He created the coach on NCAA 14 right after all the sports got cancelled in March. Started at Toledo, USC, Texas Tech, and most recently Tennessee. Now that the season is over, he has a chance to move schools again and if Wisconsin is available, he’s taking it.
Not much of a simulation as Big Cat actually plays the games and live streams them on the Twitch website.
Coach Duggs has taken on a life of his own on twitter and it’s a fun follow since most things are still shut down and sports still aren’t a thing again yet.
So there you have it. I’m aware of both Barstool and Twitch but my knowledge doesn’t go much deeper than that. I can't say I totally get the draw, but when the future QB tweets about it and the Mothership RT’s it's nice to know what they’re talking about. If nothing else its fun publicity on Twitter for the Badgers and certainly beats the alternative.
Around the Big Ten
Colten Bartholomew at the WSJ had a good primer on the rest of the Big Ten. Nothing in depth but some quick storylines from other schools which is really all I need at this point.
Noted Badger killer JD Spielman is OUT at Nebraska. Don’t know the backstory here but seems pretty surprising on the surface. Spielman had 900 yards receiving last year and should be a highly sought-after transfer. Seems to be some thought he could be rowing the boat this fall, or maybe that’s just hopeful Gopher fans on Twitter. On one hand the Badgers' rival getting a top transfer isn’t a good thing, on the other hand it will be that much better when said rival still loses to Wisconsin next year.
Thoroughly enjoyed this Dave Heller Tweet and the responses.
My favorites, ranked:
Jager Bombs with Jim Sorgi, obviously
Nick Davis wearing a full black leather duster
“Hey you’re Dan Buenning” (God I love this one so much)
Saw Alvarez at a gas station
Bielema Sans Trousers (aka 2004-2007 Bielema)
Most of the responses are pretty mundane, which mirrors my experience with athletes at UW. Sat next to John Stocco in a class, he didn’t say much! Anthony Davis stopped at a friend’s house party for 5 minutes and left! Turns out spending most nights at The Plaza doesn't lead to many memorable athlete interactions, maybe that explains my fascination with the Graham Mertz Instagram Experience.
Lets Remember Some Guys
Today we’re remembering Joey Boese, a DB from 1998 to 2001. As mentioned above, the late 90s/early 2000s were a time that Alvarez really tried to recruit California hard and Boese was one of the guys he landed. I remember him coming in with a fair amount of hype as he was from California and played as a True Freshman, both bigger deals back then.
At least from my recollection of sitting in the Camp Randall stands, he got a lot of grief from fans. It wasn’t all his fault, more a combination of his recruiting hype coming in and the team’s drop-off in defense following the Rose Bowl teams.
He started on the loaded 2000 defense that underperformed in part because they seemed totally unprepared for the spread offenses that had started to become more widespread in the Big Ten. Rewatching the 2000 Northwestern game when they gave up 47 points, they just looked so out of sorts. LBs out at the hashmarks guarding WRs while the interior got gashed, everyone looking slow and clueless, and on and on.
By 2001 they had lost most of the defensive personnel from those Rose Bowl teams and still didn’t have a plan against the spread, and as you know it did not go well. They gave 42 points in THREE different games and 63 points another. Antwan Randel El is still smiling thinking about that one. Somehow Cosgrove hung on through 2003 and even landed a job at Nebraska after that.
Boese wasn't amazing or anything, but he wasn't as bad as the people yelling about him behind me at Camp Randall thought he was and the defensive system did him no favors.
Boese played for a few years in the CFL and is currently the Strength and Conditioning coach for the Cincinnati Bengals. He looks like he could destroy me in a fight, so hopefully he doesn’t take any of this too personally. Oh maybe he should, it’d make for great Newsletter content.
Joey Boese, remembered.
That's it for this week, thanks for reading. As always, @ me on Twitter or reply to this email with any comments, questions, concerns or hate for being too hard on Kevin Cosgrove.
Don't forget to tell a friend about TWIB and Go Badgers.