Luke Fickell started his Early Signing Day press conference off with a smile and an assurance that it was one of the craziest signing days for him. Wisconsin had plenty of flips, changes, and potentially even a bidding war for 4-star running back Amari Latimer. It was full of drama and admits the craziness of it all.
Fickell can't talk about recruits that Wisconsin didn't sign; he can't get into details about why Amari Latimer, the 4-star running back brother of current Wisconsin DB Geimere Latimer, decided to flip to West Virginia at the last minute, but an astute fan can read between the lines of what happened.
Fickell was asked about what happened in November and December with some of the "guys you wanted and maybe still do." His answer revealed a lot about what was happening behind the scenes, and instead of cutting it down, here is the full response to that question:
"I think it comes down to an investment, and the truth of the matter is, in the traditional way of doing things, recruiting had been a lot about relationships. I’m not saying that there aren’t still some traditional things, but there is a bigger piece of what recruiting is. And if you’re not willing to invest in some guys and you feel like they could get on the field, then you’ve got to make some disciplined decisions. And I think that’s kind of the last couple of months of where some of those things went. It’s like, do you want to be disciplined? Do you want to—I don’t want to say match—but do you want to invest more in somebody that maybe you even had committed, or are you willing to say, “Hey, this is probably not the route we need to go”? And so that became where the really disciplined things had to come in for us, and what we felt like was going to be best for us moving forward."Luke Fickell
Amari Latimer ultimately flipped to West Virginia in what seems to have been a bidding war
Related: Luke Fickell surprises with an extra recruiting flip the day after Early Signing Day
There are a few things that Fickell said there that may showcase why there were flips that left Wisconsin. First, Fickell doesn't want to overpay for a true freshman when he knows Wisconsin has to win next year. He calls this a "disciplined decision."
He also addresses the fact that there were players, whether that was Latimer or others, who had better financial offers elsewhere, "I don't want to say match." Instead, it calls it an investment and how much they are willing to invest. And ultimately, Wisconsin had to decide how much they were willing to "invest" in each player.
This is ultimately the right decision for Wisconsin and Luke Fickell. Sure, it sucks to lose a 4-star blue-chip recruit and potentially his brother, too, but Fickell is in a prove-it season, and he has decided the majority of the money needs to be spent in the portal. That's where they can get better immediately.