Wisconsin Football picked up its 14th commitment in the 2019 class on Sunday evening.
Get your spatulas out folks, because it’s flipping season!
The 2019 recruiting cycle is approaching its conclusion, and this is the time of year when college coaching staffs begin to scramble to close up loose ends in their classes and ensure all positional needs are met. Unfortunately for less-prominent programs, this can mean that some of their committed recruits who are impressing during their senior seasons become the targets of suitors higher up in college football’s pecking order.
That’s what happened over the weekend with Bishop Carroll (Wichita, KS) tight end Clay Cundiff, who became the newest addition to Wisconsin’s 2019 class when he announced his commitment Sunday evening via Twitter at the end of his official visit to Madison. He had been a Kansas pledge since June.
Per the 247Sports composite, Cundiff is a 3-star prospect and ranks as the No. 60 tight end and No. 1431 overall player nationally in the 2019 class. In addition to Kansas, he chose Wisconsin over offers from Illinois State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, and South Dakota State. Schools such as Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Purdue, and UCF had not offered but expressed interest.
Cundiff told 247’s Evan Flood that the Wisconsin staff had said to him heading into his official visit that they needed him to be ready to make a decision one way or another regarding his offer before he left Madison, and he obviously decided to seize the opportunity to become a Badger. This was a savvy move by Paul Chryst and company to lock down the sleeper tight end prospect and get out in front of the other schools that are likely to take notice of Cundiff’s rising stock this season.
Wisconsin fans should be pumped about the addition of Cundiff to what is already one of the best recruiting classes in program history.
Watching some film of his, it’s evident that he’s the type of well-rounded tight end that Chryst has always had success using in his offense. He’s got the hands to be a reliable receiver in the passing game at the next level, but he’s also willing and able to deliver punishing blocks for his teammates, a combination of skills that should translate seamlessly to Wisconsin’s style of play and make him a pretty safe bet to be a significant component of the offense at some point.
Oh, and it also doesn’t hurt that Cundiff already has experience catching passes from prized quarterback commit Graham Mertz, as the two played on the same 7-on-7 team.
Badger fans are hoping that Cundiff won’t be the only 2019 recruit to commit to Wisconsin this week. 4-star linebacker Jared Casey was also on an official visit to Madison over the weekend and is poised to announce his college decision on Thursday.