The new rankings for 24/7 Sports came out today, and while most coaches don't pay much attention to the star rankings or the composite overall scores in these recruiting databases, players and fans do. After all the scores and rankings were tallied, one Wisconsin target for 2026 gained an additional star, going from a 3-star recruit to a 4-star recruit.
Messiah Tilson, a safety out of Rockford, Illinois, responded to his rating increase with one word: "Blessings." While Tilson may see it as a blessing, there's hard work that has gone into this increase. He's ready for his senior year and looking to continue to get better and better. The question for many Wisconsin fans is: Where does he stand with becoming a Badger?
Safety Messiah Tilson is now a 4-star recruit according to 24/7 Sports
Messiah Tilson has 15 offers and six visits lined up. He will be visiting (or already has visited) Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, and Iowa State. On May 6th, he announced that those six are his finalists, and he will choose from one of them. He will most likely take each of his visits before he officially commits.
The Badgers are one of the teams that Tilson has already visited. He came on the weekend of April 23, and that was his second official visit, on the heels of a visit to Iowa. While he is a priority target and safeties coach Jack Cooper and defensive backs coach Paul Haynes are trying to land him, there's time before he makes that decision.
If Tilson does decide to commit to the Badgers, he could be the first 24/7 Sports rated 4-star to commit in the 2026 class. Though Rivals has Mater Dei QB Ryan Hopkins as a 4-star rated player and the first of the class for Wisconsin.
Even with that said, Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell has done a great job so far in the 2026 class, adding important pieces and quality players to develop with seven commitments already.