Wisconsin football program headed in right direction

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the Wisconsin Badgers football team.

During my lifetime, Wisconsin football has spent many weeks ranked in the top 25. They’ve made bowl games just about every season and have won double-digit games on many occasions.

While that model of consistency was nice to fall back on, the Badgers could never get over the hump and into the upper echelon of teams across the country.

The most recent football season saw Wisconsin fire head coach Paul Chryst and limp to a 6-6 overall record while under interim coach Jim Leonhard. I was in the boat most people were in, in thinking that Leonhard was the guy who was going to be tabbed the head coach and was shocked to hear they instead went out and got Luke Fickell.

My imagination ran wild and immediately began thinking about how Fickell could get the team into that upper echelon finally.

Since the hiring, my expectations have only increased, as Fickell and his strong staff have seemingly turned Madison into a premier college football destination overnight.

Yes, Wisconsin lost a few players who transferred out after Leonhard was passed over for the job, but the Badgers have more than made up for those losses with a number of incoming transfers.

According to 247sports.com, Wisconsin has landed 13 players in the transfer portal since Fickell was hired as of Jan. 25. It’s not just the number that’s impressive though, as all but one of those guys are at least three-star players. That has Wisconsin with the 10th-highest 247sports.com transfer ranking in the country, a feat that seemed unfathomable just a couple months ago if you were following the typical standard Wisconsin football had lived by.

Still not convinced that Fickell has really made that big of a difference? Of those 13 transfers, three are quarterbacks — giving the team some much-needed competition at a position that’s held the team back for several years.

The transfer portal helped Wisconsin make up for 2023 recruiting class that ranked 60th in the country with just 14 commits.

Of the 14 commits, three are four-star players, with the rest being three stars. Another quarterback is in that mix, meaning there’s going to be a ton of options for the upcoming season at quarterback. It also means Fickell and company are determined to not let that position hold the team back any longer.

Overall, the Badgers have the 36th-best overall set of incoming players, a number that I expect to rise each and every season Fickell is leading the charge.

How can I be sure of that? Just take a look at what Fickell was able to accomplish at Cincinnati.

Cincinnati went 4-8 in Fickell’s first season in 2017, with the 63rd-ranked recruiting class. His teams won double-digit games every other full season — discounting a 9-1 COVID season in 2020 — with the recruiting class jumping into the top 50 most of those years, and actually ahead of Wisconsin in 2022.

Now Fickell is at a school where athletes should be more inclined to play because there’s a better chance for players to get noticed on bigger TV networks and against better competition.

Fickell had nine of his players drafted from a 2021 team that made the College Football Playoff. Coming to Wisconsin, which already had a good reputation of producing NFL players, Fickell’s ability to land big-time recruits and churn out some of the best players in the country should only improve.

I understand some people’s frustrations when it comes to what college football has become today — with NIL (name, image, likeness) players leaving early for the draft and others transferring out of places year after year — but it’s likely not going away anytime soon, so it’s best to get used to it.

The Big Ten Conference is often looked to as a league primarily focused on running games and staunch defense, with the only teams bucking those trends being the one in the conversation of making the playoffs every year. I think Wisconsin became the first of many schools in the conference that understands its philosophy needed to change in order to get to where fans only dreamed of.

Gone are the days of running the ball 50-plus times and winning every game in the teens. It might take a bit of getting used to, but be patient and give things a chance. I bet you’ll enjoy the results to come.

The way things are trending with Wisconsin’s football program, the wait to achieve greatness might come a lot sooner than you think.

Morgan Rode is the sports editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at sports@newmedia-wi.com.