Skip to main content
Badger of Honor
Fansided

Luke Fickell celebrates the USC upset by flipping a 4-star Penn State commit for Wisconsin

Luke Fickell just added the cherry on top of the weekend.
ByMark Knight
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on Reddit
Google Discover
Oct 3, 2026; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the =*q= against = at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
Oct 3, 2026; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the =*q= against = at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Luke Fickell is having a heck of a weekend. The Badgers took down No. 16 USC on prime-time television; his seat just got a lot cooler, and now he's added a 4-star linebacker in a flip. Blake Betton has been committed to Penn State, but after a visit to Madison this weekend and knowing the trajectory of the two programs, he flipped to Wisconsin.

Betton was part of a massive recruiting weekend in Madison this weekend. Fickell was playing with fire by putting his biggest recruiting weekend of the season on a week that his Badgers were the underdogs, taking on one of the top offenses in the Big Ten. Then, he showed these recruits a great time, a great win, and, if you are a defensive player, an amazing defense.

4-star LB Blake Betton has flipped from Penn State to Wisconsin

Related: Wisconsin taking down USC has the 'fire Lincoln Riley' takes stronger than ever

Things are going horribly for Penn State head coach Matt Campbell; he lost two recruits this weekend (and while he did gain one), the Penn State program is in a bad place. Betton isn't the only recruit jumping ship, and not the only blue chip either. But for Wisconsin, the focus should be on the great linebacker that Betton projects to be.

24/7 Sports has Betton as a 3-star but the fourth-best player in the state of Minnesota. He is also the 35th-best linebacker in the class of 2027. Rivals has him as a 4-star linebacker, the No. 27 linebacker, and No. 3 in his home state.

For Fickell, it's not just stealing a recruit away from Penn State; it's dipping into the backyard of another Big Ten conference, Minnesota. Taking a top player from the Golden Gophers' backyard. It does wonders for a fanbase that is looking for every reason to trust Luke Fickell again. He's doing a lot of things right, right now: Winning games at Camp Randall- that's now six in a row dating back to last year- recruiting Wisconsin well, flipping recruits from other Big Ten programs, and getting things back on track in the overall win department.

This 2027 class just got a lot more special too with Betton. It's now broken back into the top-25, but it's flirting with that 24-27 range depending on the recruiting service. It's another blue-chip recruit for Fickell. It's also another big-time linebacker recruit. Fickell has been known to turn linebackers into studs over the last couple of years.

It's hard for a recruit not to see what Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano are doing and not be like, "That could be me." Posa was a 4-star recruit at one point, and now he's one of the top linebackers in the nation.

There are still plenty of Wisconsin fans that don't quite trust Fickell yet, but this weekend didn't hurt in the slightest. His seat has cooled off a lot and if he stacks up a bunch more wins to finish the season, it could get ice cold.

Add us as a preferred source on Google
Home/Wisconsin Football Recruiting