The Wisconsin Badgers football 2024 recruiting class is shaping up to be one of the best, if not the best, in school history. With 4-star recruits at running back, offensive line, quarterback, wide receiver, and tight end, a ton of talent will be flooding into Madison next year.
While the offensive line and the defensive backfield have loaded up on talent in next year’s class out of need, one position group has struggled. The defensive line has been a recruiting struggle in recent memory. With Keeanu Benton now in the NFL, the Badgers don’t have a proven player in the trenches or at defensive end. There is potential on the roster, but help in terms of high-end recruits or overall volume hasn’t been there.
Wisconsin Badgers football did reel back in defensive tackle Jamel Howard, a 3-star Illinois native in the 2023 class which will help, but this team will need high-end players to hold down the defensive line in the new 3-3-5 scheme that Mike Tressel is implementing.
Defensive end Hank Weber is the only defensive lineman committed for the 2024 class at the moment as Wisconsin has just fallen short on a handful of high-upside pass rushers. Although I like Weber’s potential, two defensive ends and one defensive tackle across the last recruiting classes aren’t enough for a scheme that requires the defensive line to do a lot for the scheme to work properly.
Why is Wisconsin Badgers Football Struggling to Add These Players?
The Wisconsin football program has put a lot of players in the NFL in recent memory. As great of a selling point as that is, the majority of those players have been running backs or linebackers. This program has proven to develop those players and prepare them for the next level.
Defensive backs aren’t on that list but the previous defensive coordinator was a long-time NFL player as a safety and deployed a scheme that didn’t require a ton from the secondary. The pass rush got to the quarterback fast and often which took pressure off the back half of the defense.
Now with Luke Fickell and Mike Tressel in town, a bigger emphasis is being put on the position and both have a track record of developing players at the defensive back position. So where does that leave the defensive line? Unfortunately, in a kind of awkward spot.
The previous defense focused on linebacker usage while the new regime only has space for three defensive line starters at a time. The issue is those three on the field need to do their jobs extremely well for the rest of the defense to flow properly. With a new scheme and coaching staff at a program that historically wasn’t loaded at the defensive line position, we are seeing a potential weak spot on the team.
Luckily, the linebacker group is looking very good now, and in the future, as the upperclassmen have performed at a high level in the past and high-upside recruits have been brought in recently as well. Relying on the linebackers may work for a while but eventually, this staff will need to bring in high-upside defensive line recruits.
Benton is a great example of a player the program took a chance on and he developed into a second-round draft pick with hard work. There are players currently on the roster that can follow the same path but for a program with national championship aspirations, dominant big men on the defensive line are a must.
Wisconsin Badgers football will likely never reach the level of Georgia when it comes to attracting dominant defensive line recruits, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find special players that fit the scheme. There aren’t many recruits at those positions high on the staff’s board still up for grabs for the 2024 class. We might see a late push for a few players but barring a miracle, Weber is likely the only one.
The 2025 class will be a big measuring stick on how well this staff can recruit the position, and how much importance they put in it. The focus for the 2024 class was long, athletic defensive backs with tall offensive linemen coming in second. The staff has nailed that emphasis with the players that have committed and we’ll find out soon if the defensive line is the next group they want to upgrade.
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