Wisconsin Football commit Marcus Graham will miss the rest of his senior season after injuring his ACL in the first game of the year.
The next time Marcus Graham suits up on the gridiron, it will be for Wisconsin Football.
Graham, one of Wisconsin’s 13 commitments in the class of 2019, will miss the remainder of his final high school season after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in his first game of the year.
According to Robert Washington, Graham’s coach at Mountain Island Charter (Mount Holly, NC), the injury was initially thought to be relatively minor. However, Graham received the discouraging news last Thursday that it would indeed bring his high school career to an end.
At this point, the exact nature and severity of Graham’s ACL injury is not clear, nor is the timetable for his recovery.
Hopefully, it’s not too severe and he can bounce back in time to begin his college career fully healthy because Graham is one of the most exciting players in the Badgers’ 2019 recruiting class.
He may be the lowest-ranked player of the group according to 247Sports, but recruiting rankings mean very little in a Wisconsin program that routinely takes walk-ons and turns them into NFL players.
That being said, Graham has a ton of talent and could very well be the hidden gem of this class. He is expected to begin his Wisconsin career as a wide receiver, but he was categorized as an “athlete” by recruiting services for a reason.
Graham primarily played quarterback in high school but also proved himself to be a formidable weapon at running back and wide receiver. He will end his prep career with a prolific stat line of a little over 4,000 passing yards, just under 2,000 rushing yards, and 268 receiving yards to go along with 81 total touchdowns.
The Wisconsin coaching staff has emphasized adding dynamic playmakers with exciting athleticism and versatility to play a variety of positions over the last few recruiting cycles, and Graham certainly fits the mold. Considering his unique talent, along with the success Paul Chryst and Wide Receivers Coach Ted Gilmore have had in developing receivers over the last few seasons, Graham looks to have a very high ceiling in Madison.
This injury is obviously a disappointing way for his high school football days to end, but Graham still has a bright future ahead of him as a Badger.