Breaking down Wisconsin Football’s three new offers

Wisconsin Football started off the week by offering new recruits in the 2020 and 2021 classes.

The Wisconsin football staff has hit the recruiting trail running this week, adding three new names to its board of targets on Monday and Tuesday. We have you covered with some background information on each prospect, along with how the Badgers fit in each recruitment at the moment.

Tyler Van Dyke- Quarterback (Class of 2020)

Suffield Academy (Glastonbury, CT) quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was offered by Wisconsin on Monday.

Per the 247Sports composite rankings, Van Dyke is 3-star (borderline 4-star) prospect and ranks as the No. 15 pro-style quarterback and No. 360 overall player nationwide in the 2020 class.

His current offer list includes Boston College, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Michigan, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and Syracuse, with many more programs likely to pull the trigger at some point in the near future. Schools such as Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia have not offered, but appear to be sniffing around here.

Wisconsin Quarterbacks Coach Jon Budmayr has the lead on this one, and in his short time in his current role has proven himself to have a keen eye for quarterback talent, the best example of this, of course, being 2019 commit Graham Mertz. We all know the extent to which Mertz’s recruitment ultimately blew up, but remember that Wisconsin extended an offer when he was still a relatively unknown prospect. Budmayr was the one who scouted Mertz and was behind that offer.

Van Dyke is the second quarterback the Badgers have offered in 2020, joining 4-star Max Johnson (Watkinsville, GA), who currently sits as the No. 70 overall player in the country. Van Dyke is the far more realistic option of the two based on their current offers, but again, I would expect his list to expand quite a bit before all is said and done.

Wisconsin had success in plucking current No. 2 quarterback Jack Coan off the East Coast in the 2017 cycle. We will see if the Badgers can replicate the feat with Van Dyke, who would be yet another outstanding addition to the quarterback room one recruiting cycle after landing Mertz.

Blake Fischer- Offensive Tackle (Class of 2021)

Avon (Avon, IN) offensive tackle Blake Fischer was also offered by Wisconsin on Monday.

247Sports is very high on Fischer, who they have listed as a 4-star prospect that ranks as the No. 10 offensive tackle and No. 88 overall player in the class of 2021.

With it being so early in the 2021 recruiting cycle, Fischer’s only other offers at this time are from Indiana, Iowa, Purdue, and Toledo. However, the recruiting juggernaut that is Ohio State is also lurking around in the shadows here, and it won’t be long until other suitors come calling as well for the talented 6’6 tackle.

Wisconsin will have fierce competition for Fischer’s services as his recruitment continues to expand, but as we have said before, the Badgers have shown time and time again they can compete with the giants of college football for offensive line prospects.

Wisconsin will get an opportunity right away to begin selling their pitch to Fischer, as he will be visiting Madison this weekend for the Nebraska game. The Badgers couldn’t ask for a much better opportunity to blow him away immediately. I would imagine they will be sitting pretty well in Fischer’s eyes after the weekend.

D.J. Rogers- Tight End (Class of 2020)

Eastside Catholic (Sammamish, WA) tight end D.J. Rogers earned a Wisconsin offer on Tuesday.

Rogers is a 4-star prospect and ranks as the No. 4 tight end and No. 204 overall player in the 2020 class.

His current offer list is a murderer’s row of some of the most storied programs in college football. Rogers boasts offers from Alabama, Nebraska, UCLA, USC, Washington, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Stanford, among others.

There’s obviously a long way to go still, but it’s highly doubtful that Wisconsin will be able to gain much traction in this one. The Badgers appear to be a bit late to the party in Rogers’ recruitment and now are staring down competition from pretty much every heavy hitter out west in addition to the likes of behemoths like Alabama and LSU.

Rogers may be a major long shot, but the good news is Badger fans should be cautiously optimistic that Wisconsin can make some noise in the recruitments of Van Dyke and Fischer, at least at this early stage.