Wisconsin Football: Could Wisconsin miss out on in-state targets?

The Wisconsin football team has a nice group of recruits in their backyard as a part of the 2022 recruiting class. There are a total of five 4-star recruits. Right now, Wisconsin has the top overall prospect in Joe Brunner locked up. They also have the state’s top quarterback in Myles Burkett committed as well.

The fourth-overall prospect, receiver/tight end Jerry Cross, has been committed to Penn State since July of 2020.

So that leaves the Wisconsin football team with three of the top targets in the state to get. For a while this past summer, it felt like a no-doubter that the Badgers were going to get all three, giving them four of the five 4-star recruits in the state.

Now, it feels like things may be changing.

Let’s start with Carson Hinzman. Hinzman is a 4-star lineman from Saint Croix Central. Hinzman grew up a Wisconsin football fan and he seemed to be a slam dunk. There was never a doubt that Hinzman would end up in Madison. Ohio State has gotten involved, and apparently, the Buckeyes are an intriguing option for Hinzman and apparently a real threat to Wisconsin’s hopes of landing him.

As of right now, the 247Sports Crystal Ball still has Wisconsin as the favored, with 100% of the predictions pointing to the Badgers, but apparently, the confidence isn’t as high as it once was.

Next is offensive lineman Billy Schrauth. For a while, Notre Dame was the heavy favorite to land Schrauth. But after Schrauth’s visit to Wisconsin over the summer, his eyes were opened. All of a sudden, Wisconsin was the pick and things were looking very good for the Badgers.

There was some confidence among Wisconsin football fans that Schrauth would commit sooner rather than later, but it just didn’t happen. Now, Notre Dame is seemingly getting back into the picture and maybe even viewed as the favorite by some. He was recently visited by the Notre Dame coaches at his school, and not his Crystal Ball at 247Sports has been going back towards Notre Dame’s side. Currently, his Crystal Ball is favoring Notre Dame 55% to Wisconsin’s 45%.

Finally, we have Sun Prairie defensive end, Isaac Hamm. He also felt like a slam dunk. For a while, his visit to Wisconsin was the only one he had scheduled until he took a visit to Lousiville, which at the time felt random or just a reason to go check out some other schools. No one thought there was much to it.

But if Hamm was really a slam dunk, wouldn’t he have committed already? Is he waiting to see what other offers could come his way after the early signing period? If that’s the case, Wisconsin might still have some work to do.

With all of these players starting their playoff runs in their final high school season, there’s no reason for them to make their decisions now. It sounds like they will start making their commitments after their season’s end, or even later.

It’s too bad the Badgers couldn’t get a commitment sooner out of these top players in their backyard, but maybe they have a little time now to get back and solidify their position for these players. I know a lot of Wisconsin football fans would be very disappointed if the Badgers missed out on these players.