Wisconsin Football: Roster tracker for National Signing Day

While a lot of the excitement happened at the early National Signing Day back in December, the Wisconsin football team wasn’t done adding to their 2022 recruiting class. While a lot of recruits sign during the early signing period, there are still some recruits who wait to sign until February to sign, which is when the normal National Signing Day was before the early period became a thing.

The Badgers announced the signing of Chris Brooks Jr., who just flipped from Yale to Wisconsin yesterday.

The addition of Brooks pushed the 2022 class to 15 scholarship players. The Wisconsin football team has also added on a handful of walk-ons:

• Luna Larson – Linebacker – Baraboo, WI
• Deven Magli – Cornerback – DeForest, WI
• Jackson Trudgeon – Safety – Madison, WI
• Austin Harnetiaux – Linebacker – Seattle, WA
• John Clifford – Offensive Line – Watertown, WI
• Drew Evans – Offensive Line – Fort Atkinson, WI
• Gabe Kirschke – Defensive Line – Littelton, CO
• Travis Alvin – Tight End – Randolph, WI

The Wisconsin football team also announced the additions they have made through the transfer portal. In all, the Badgers added six players through the portal.

The Wisconsin football team clearly targets the cornerback position in the transfer portal so far this offseason. With the losses of Caesar Williams and Faion Hicks (NFL Draft), Donte Burton and Derron Harrell (transfer portal), and Dean Engram (switching positions), the Badgers had a few spots to fill.

They added three cornerbacks through the portal. First, was Toledo-transfer Justin Clark. Then Jay Shaw transferred into the program from UCLA followed by Kentucky-transfer, Cedrick Dort. What was shaping up to be a young, inexperienced, and thin position group is looking like the exact opposite.

The Badgers also added wide receiver Keontez Lewis, also from UCLA. The addition of Lewis helps add some experience to a receiving corps that is losing Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor. He will be in line to compete for snaps with Chimere Dike, Markus Allen, and Skyler Bell.

Next, the Badgers brought in a kicker from the portal, Arkansas-transfer Vito Calvaruso.

Finally, the sixth and final transfer, was a surprise until it was announced by the team on NSD. Safety Bryce Carey is transferring to Wisconsin from Northern Illinois. Carey is from Middleton, WI, and played quarterback for the Huskies but will come in as a safety for the Badgers.

All in all, this is a smaller recruiting class, but if you factor in the walk-ons and the transfers, the Badgers are adding 29 total new players to the 2022 roster. Things may look a little different next year, but fresh blood isn’t a bad thing either.