Wisconsin football is not known for 5-star recruits. In fact, there have only been five of them ever, and really only one panned out, two if you really squint. What Wisconsin is known for, and should be proud of, is turning unranked or low-ranked recruits into football legends. Both at Wisconsin and beyond. This list is much longer and harder to narrow down.
Instead of an overall ranking, it might be better to do this list with categories based on the level of high school recruiting ranking they had coming into Wisconsin. Then rank inside each category. Though once again, like the 5-star article, we can't really consider too many recruits before the early 2000s, as there wasn't really a reliable ranking system for high school recruiting.
Unranked - No Stars
1. Jim Leonhard
2. Chris Maragos
3. Jared Abbrederis
4. Matt Henningsen
5. Garrett Groshek
This is a fun list because it's full of guys who literally had no ranking in high school and went on to have not only successful Wisconsin careers but even launched into the NFL. Guys like Jim Leonhard went on to be household names even outside of Wisconsin. The Badgers loved to promote a walk-on culture.
2-stars
1. J.J. Watt
2. T.J. Edwards
3. Joe Schobert
4. Scott Tolzien
5. Alec Ingold
Obviously, Watt is the headline name, and it even took a position change from tight end to defensive end to see him flip to the player we all recognize today. However, that list is chock-full of other highly successful Badgers and NFL players. The development culture of Wisconsin is incredible when you mash the unranked list with the 2-star list and realize how impressive that is.
As we move to 3-star and then end there, this one is a bit more subjective. As 3-stars are considered tweeners in the recruiting world. They could be stars or could be busts. So, every school is going to have 3-stars that end up being stars and end up being busts. However, there are some really good stories in the final category too.
Related: Ranking every 5-star recruit in Wisconsin football history from best to worst
3-stars
1. Joe Thomas
2. Jonathan Taylor
3. Leo Chenal
4. Ryan Ramczyk
5. Travis Frederick
This final list was hard to narrow down, for it could include Chris Borland, Tyler Biadasz, Corey Clement, and others. Wisconsin has a long line of 3-star players, and a good chunk went on to have successful NFL careers. However, it was easy at the top. Joe Thomas is a Hall of Fame player and was one of the best players to ever step foot on Camp Randall field. He's an easy No. 1 for the 3-star category.
Jonathan Taylor is chasing him down. Another absolute star who surprised a lot of people and had both tremendous success at Wisconsin and now in the NFL. Leo Chenal is a similar story. The linemen, who were plentiful to choose from, also have NFL success to their names.
Wisconsin's 5-star list isn't that exciting and, in fact, it's underwhelming, but you get into the culture of development at Wisconsin, and the list produces Hall of Famers.
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