Badger of Honor
Fansided

Wisconsin Football: Nolan Rucci Will Announce Commitment Today

By Christian Borman

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 01: The Wisconsin Badgers huddled up on the field against the Oregon Ducks during the second quarter in the Rose Bowl game presented by Northwestern Mutual at Rose Bowl on January 01, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 01: The Wisconsin Badgers huddled up on the field against the Oregon Ducks during the second quarter in the Rose Bowl game presented by Northwestern Mutual at Rose Bowl on January 01, 2020 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Wisconsin football recruiting target Nolan Rucci will announce his commitment today.

Today will is a day a lot of Wisconsin football fans have been waiting for for a long time. Nolan Rucci will announce his commitment today at 5:00 central time and will be streamed online on CBS Sports HQ.

Rucci is a 5-star offensive lineman out of Warwick High School in Lititz, Pennsylvania. He has 29 scholarship offers from schools like Wisconsin, Clemson, Alabama, Penn St., and more. According to 247Sports, Rucci is the 5th ranked offensive tackle and the 14th overall recruit in the entire country. His older brother, Hayden Rucci, is a tight end

The 2021 recruiting class is already one of the best in Wisconsin football history. As I previously noted in my article, Remaining Targets in the 2021 Recruiting Class, adding Rucci would be a huge bump for the Badgers. According to 247 Sports’ team rankings, the Badgers have a composite score of 211.63, good enough for 17th in the country. If Rucci joins the Badgers, they would jump to a composite score of 226.64, moving them up a spot to 16th, ahead of Texas Tech.

The Badgers already have 4-star offensive lineman J.P. Benzschawel committed. Adding Rucci would bring even more star power to O-Line U. The Badgers reeled in 5-star tackle Logan Brown in 2019 and I’m sure Wisconsin would love to pair Rucci with Brown at tackle for the Badgers in the future. That would give Graham Mertz a solid pair of tackles during his time in Madison.

In an article from Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, Wiltfong talks about what is going into Rucci’s decision.

“Obviously academics was a big factor for me, finding a place not only where I can perform on the football field but perform off the field in the classroom and not compromise either for one of the other,” Rucci explained. “I think all the schools in my top nine had a healthy mix of that.

“The next thing was to find a place that feels like home and the guys around you feel like family, not only the players around you but the coaches. I think just getting up on visits and campuses was one of the best ways to find that stuff out, getting around the coaches and players and the programs.

“I think lastly, a place where they obviously have a strong football team, a place where I can go and be developed by a great coach and have a chance to play in the NFL.”

Even though it is a biased opinion, I think Wisconsin checks all of those boxes. He has a relationship with a lot of Wisconsin football players already because of his brother. He has spent a lot of time in Madison as well. I think the decision will come down to Wisconsin and Penn St, but I think ultimately Wisconsin will be a better fit for him and he will have a chance to be one of the best offensive linemen to come out of Wisconsin since Joe Thomas.

Make sure you tune into CBS Sports HQ at 5:00 PM CT tonight to see if Rucci will come to Madison!