Today is the national signing day for high school football players to officially commit to their university of choice. The Kohl Center will play host as UW introduces the class of 2005, one that bears resemblance to every other recruiting class during the Alvarez Era.
This group of 20-plus athletes appears to contain many players that can play several positions. Following the recipe of years past, Barry's newest group is slowing beginning to take shape.
The first order of business was taken care of when Alvarez was able to sign a few of the state's top linemen, highlighted by 6'6', 325 lbs. projected right tackle Andy Kemp from Menasha. Kemp will have a slight advantage over his competition after completing high school a semester early and is already enrolled in classes this semester at UW.
The one thing Wisconsin does extremely well is produce linemen, something that Alvarez and the rest of the country is quite aware of. To his credit, he has lost very few in-state players at this position during his tenure and has proven he can develop them into NFL prospects. Along with Kemp, he has also recently received a verbal commitment from the state's top junior prospect, 6'7', 275 lbs. Sturgeon Bay lineman Jake Bscherer.
The next line of business for the Badgers is to secure the state's most nationally recognized prospect??-something that has been accomplished on a fairly consistent level. Two years ago the top prize was Brookfield Central product Joe Thomas who chose Wisconsin over the lure of Notre Dame. Last year, however, the Badgers saw Miami come and steal Rhyan Anderson, a defensive lineman from Oak Creek, who after redshirting this year for the Canes, will look for immediate playing time next season.
This year that man was Travis Beckum, a linebacker from Oak Creek who has the speed to play in the secondary, though he is projected to play defensive end for the Badgers. Though Beckum was extremely well-known at the national level, Alvarez went a step further and labeled him the top recruit in the nation.
A few weeks later, Beckum gave an oral commitment to the Badgers and sent perennial powerhouses Miami and Oklahoma back home empty-handed.
However, this is where things usually get tricky in the state of Wisconsin. Our state usually only produces 10-15 Division I recruits, and they commonly come in the form of linemen and linebackers. This is where Barry gets a little crafty, but not necessarily effective.
He switches his focus from football to track and field, and finds the fastest athletes in the area and inquires if they have ever seen a football field during their career. When these athletes arrive on campus a few months later, he transforms the track star into a reliable cover cornerback. When all is said and done, they usually amount to track athletes that play football in their free time.
Two classic cases of this were B.J. Tucker of Nicolet and most recently, Antonio Freeman from Wauwatosa. Tucker played four average years for the Badgers, but was never more of a speed guy in the secondary. A similar outlook appears on the horizon for redshirt freshman Freeman, who lacks the size and intangibles to cover the Big Ten's top wide outs.
The same holds true in finding players to fill the skill positions who hail from Wisconsin. In the past 10 years, only running backs Brent Moss and Terrell Fletcher from Racine, Wisconsin and more recently, Michael Bennett from Milwaukee have made an impact at these positions.
And for wide receivers, the situation is even bleaker. Senior and Oshkosh native Darren Charles may actually be the best this state has produced since Derek Abney took his lone scholarship offer from Kentucky and was a star for the Wildcats from 1999 to 2002.
Finally, Alvarez's instinct when evaluating high school players comes into question when looking at his past mistakes. He attempted to recruit former Cudahy and Michigan star John Navarre as a defensive end for the Badgers rather than at his natural position of quarterback.
He repeated this same mistake again a few years later when another Oak Creek standout, Brain Calhoun was invited to join the Badgers as a defensive back rather than his high school position of tailback. After hearing this, Calhoun took little time in choosing Colorado over UW.
Wisconsin's production of high school players is quite simple: quality and depth at lineman, a few solid walks-ons available (Jason Doering, Jim Leonard, etc.) and an extreme lack of athletes at the skilled positions. I'll offer Barry a little advice to end on: A state championship in the 100 meters does not automatically make you a Big Ten cornerback and when blue chip players outside of lineman come from our state, don't mold them into something else. Just let them play.
Jon is a junior majoring in journalism and English and can be reached at jrmcnamara@wisc.edu.
