Caleb Williams to Wisconsin rumors continue to heat up

Most Wisconsin fans were quick to dismiss the rumors that the Badgers could be in on the top transfer prospect in the market, quarterback Caleb Wiliams. The rumors were met with immediate pessimistic comments denying the fact that he may actually be interested in Wisconsin. Well, those Wisconsin fans can eat their words.

Even though Caleb Williams could still end up with USC or UCLA, the word around the college football world is that Wisconsin really is in the thick of things and maybe even in the top two or three options for Williams.

On3 is an online recruiting database similar to 247Sports and Rivals. It was created by someone formerly at 247Sports and they took legitimate sports reporters with them, so you can trust this site about as much as the other two, as far as recruiting information goes.

One of those reporters is Billy Embody, the On3 writer for LSU. LSU was one of the schools thought to be in on Williams, so Embody would have some insight on the situation. While USC seems to be the hot pick right now, for obvious reasons, Embody thinks Wisconsin is the school trending in the right direction.

James Fletcher from On3 also wrote an article about how Wisconsin is a new team emerging for Williams.

So why would Williams want to come to Wisconsin over teams like USC, LSU, or UCLA?

Well, it sounds like there are a lot of factors at play. The biggest factor for Williams is getting to the NFL, not necessarily NLI deals he could get. If that’s what he was after, he wouldn’t even likely be considering Wisconsin.

Now Wisconsin doesn’t have the reputation of a quarterback pipeline to the NFL, but there is one player that could be making the difference: Russell Wilson.

Russell Wilson and the Williams family are reportedly close and Wilson is even somewhat of a mentor to Williams. He has talked up Paul Chryst, who was Wilson’s OC in his lone year at Wisconsin. On top of that, the Badgers are targeting Ravens’ tight end coach, Bobby Engram as their next offensive coordinator. Caleb Williams and the Engrams also have a connection. They are both from the same area, and Engram’s son, Dean is also on Wisconsin’s football team. The two are friends.

So there are a lot of things going Wisconsin’s way in Williams’ recruitment. I’m not sure people are ready to call the Badgers the favorites, but from the sounds of things, they are definitely in the mix.