Wisconsin fans will not let Chris McIntosh's promise to invest more in the roster slip away from their minds. Or the message from the mega booster Ted Kellner that Wisconsin football will be in the top 1/3 of financial investments in the FBS. The attention immediately turned to the transfer portal and how Luke Fickell will use this money to upgrade the roster.
It started with a bang when Wisconsin grabbed the best defensive lineman currently in the transfer portal from DII Grand Valley State, Jibriel Conde. He committed to the Badgers on Friday. On Monday, he flipped to Kansas. Not an ideal way to start off the "spending increase" by getting beat by Kansas for a transfer.
This is a huge coup for Big 12 Kansas to wrestle away a commit from a top third NIL spending Big Ten team https://t.co/4cZaRdGpXQ
— Scary Alvarez (@barryisthedon) December 2, 2025
Wisconsin is already getting outbid in the portal and that's a bad sign
Related: Wisconsin, Luke Fickell need to check these boxes in the winter transfer portal
Wisconsin losing its first transfer may mean nothing, but it sets a bad precedent in an offseason that Luke Fickell and Chris McIntosh have a ton to prove. Sure, maybe this one isolated incident doesn't matter, but goodwill starts with one moment at a time.
If these two want to gain back the trust they lost from the fans, they will need to begin to spend and not get beat in the portal by other programs, especially not Kansas (not a big spender in football).
For this story, there's probably way more behind-the-scenes information, and maybe this is a player that Luke Fickell wasn't as high on as whatever his price tag ended up being, but what needs to be considered by Fickell is how it looks. He needs to win a few of these battles by outbidding a school, preferably a school that's known for spending money like Washington, Ohio State, or Florida. Or if you really want to score points with the fans, Fickell, you'd go outspend Miami on a player.
The portal hasn't officially opened, and it won't until January 2, but there are still plenty of names and players already in it due to coaching changes, JUCOs, and DII/DIII schools. There's still time for Fickell, McIntosh, and Kellner to put their money where their mouth are, but this is a bad start.