Evaluating Wisconsin Football’s new moves in the 2020 class

Wide Receiver

Curtis Jacobs

McDonogh School (Owings Mills, MD) 4-star receiver Curtis Jacobs claimed an offer from the Badgers back on November 28.

Jacobs, the No. 30 receiver and No. 160 overall player in the nation, has other offers from Florida, Penn State, Duke, Boston College, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia, among others.

As with many of the players featured in this piece, my gut tells me that Jacobs is pretty unlikely to wear the Cardinal and White one day. Historically, Wisconsin does not land highly-rated recruits at receiver relative to other positions. For context, Jacobs’ current 247Sports composite ranking of .9371 would make him the second highest-ranked receiver Wisconsin has signed in the almost 19 years of the database’s existence, behind only Kraig Appleton in the class of 2009.

The Badgers are just going to have to fend off too many of college football’s top dogs here.

Maliq Carr

Oak Park (Oak Park, MI) wide receiver Maliq Carr was also offered by Wisconsin at the end of November. The 3-star prospect is the nation’s No. 75 receiver and No. 389 overall player, but his offer list is starting to look like that of a 5-star.

Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State have already beaten Wisconsin to the punch here, and Carr has other offers from Boston College, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, and Syracuse.

At 6’6, it’s unclear what position Carr will settle in at in college: some schools could want him as a receiver, while others may envision a move to tight end. What is entirely clear is that Carr, who, as you might expect, is also a standout on the basketball court, possesses immense upside at either position due to his high-level athleticism. This kid screams “matchup nightmare.”

The Badgers have been formidable on the recruiting trail in Michigan over the last few years and have two natives of the Wolverine State in their wide receiver room at the moment in A.J. Abbott and Taj Mustapha, both natives of West Bloomfield. Perhaps they will be successful in carrying over some of that momentum in the recruitment of Carr, but I certainly would not hold your breath at the prospect of Wisconsin coming out on top over the likes of Michigan or Ohio State.

Daniel Jackson

Bishop Miege (Mission, KS) 4-star prospect Daniel Jackson was offered by Wisconsin last Tuesday. Class of 2019 Badger commits Clay Cundiff and Graham Mertz made sure to get a pitch right away to their fellow Kansan.

Jackson currently ranks as the No. 52 receiver and No. 258 overall player in his class and holds offers from Notre Dame, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, and Texas A&M, but look for schools such as Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and Tennessee that are sniffing around to get in on the action soon as well. The Fighting Irish appear to be out in front as things stand today.

Let’s hope that the prospect of catching passes from Mertz in the future can prove to be a convincing selling point because Jackson is the type of game-breaking weapon that can blow the top off of a defense. At 5’11, he has decent size to go along with blazing 4.5 speed that makes him a candidate to play in the slot or on the outside. Having a guy like that on their offense could be a game changer for the Badgers and a breath of fresh air for Wisconsin fans who desperately want to see a more potent aerial attack.

Marcus Rosemy

As with his teammate at St. Thomas Aquinas, Derek Wingo, 5-star receiver Marcus Rosemy was offered by the Badgers last Wednesday.

The nation’s No. 5 wideout and No. 29 overall player, Rosemy currently holds a plethora of offers, including from Florida, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Arkansas, Boston College, Cincinnati, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Texas, and Wake Forest.

I’m no fortune teller, but in this case I think I can safely predict the future: Rosemy is not going to end up in Madison. Wisconsin’s recruiting has certainly been turned up a notch over the last few years under Paul Chryst, but the fact remains that the Badgers practically never land 5-star prospects. Indeed, Wisconsin has never signed a 5-star player at the skill positions on offense. That history does not seem likely to change with Rosemy.