The Wisconsin football program cultivated a three-decade-long reputation as a school that assembled the foundation of the Badgers roster by focusing recruiting efforts on keeping in-state talents home.
While that philosophy will always be true on some level, it’s worth acknowledging that for myriad reasons, it’s no longer a given that the Wisconsin Badgers will keep the top in-state recruits home.
UW kept the top player in Wisconsin home in 11 of 13 seasons from 2011-2023, landing 23 of the 30 (76.6%) composite four-star recruits. Following that impressive run, things have taken a noticeable turn.
Since I don’t have a horse in the race in terms of opinion on how Wisconsin football coaches should build their team, I thought it might be worth exploring just how significant some of those shifts have been.