This week was full of recruiting news for the Wisconsin Badgers football team and men’s basketball team.
Both teams secured commitments from desirable walk-ons and exciting athleticism this week, with several new moves that could lead to future commitments.
However, the basketball team also fell short of several key goals in the upcoming class.
To give you an overview of everything that happened in the last 7 days, here are our weekly recruitment summaries.
Basketball: Jack Janicki accepts walk-on offer
Greg Gard and Badgers earned major walk-on commitments on Wednesday, winning standout Jack Janicki of White Bear Lake High School, Minnesota.
The sweet-shooting lefty turned down several scholarship opportunities, including Colorado State, Santa Clara, and Wake Forest.
Janicki is a tremendous walk-on addition, averaging over 24 points per game at the preparation level last season. His shooting ability and his 6-foot-5 length give him a chance to make a future contribution at the University of Wisconsin. It’s no surprise to see him win a scholarship after spending several years in the program.
Janicki has recently been on campus for a visit and has previously attended an advanced camp in Wisconsin and was one of the top performers.
A 2023 recruit, he joins John Blackwell and Gus Yarden in the current class.
You can read the breakdown of All Badgers’ full commitment to Janicki here.
Basketball: Nolan Winter Officially Visits Madison
Nolan Winter, perhaps the top target for the rest of the 2023 cycle, was on campus for an official visit earlier this week.
According to multiple reports, the Minnesota native has enjoyed traveling and is ready to visit the Gophers in the coming weeks.
The Minnesota heritage Badgers hope the visit will be enough to overtake Big Ten rivals and add Winter as a final piece to the 2023 class. It will be an important addition to the roster. His game reflects well on his style of play for Wisconsin.
Basketball: Wisconsin Misses 2023 Pair of Wings
Badgers have been heavily involved with guards Jamie Kaiser and Gehrig Normand over the past few months, including official visits to each.
But this week, two rising prospects rule out the recruiting Badgers and head elsewhere instead.
Kaiser has announced the final three in Indiana, Maryland and Virginia as his profile on the recruiting trail continues to trend upwards. It was one of the first offers, but we were unable to close his recruitment before hiring began.
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Similarly, the Badgers recently welcomed Texas shooting guard Gehrig Normand on a state visit last month, but a state visit to Michigan this week brought a commitment to the Spartans.
The two misses are closely aligned with Wisconsin’s acceptance of a walk-on commitment from Janicki, and the Badgers are now more likely to focus on forwards such as Winter to close out the class.
On August 1st of each year, schools may extend the offer of “official” scholarships. These offers demonstrate that their scholarship opportunities are committable and an exciting event for players across the country.
As expected, several committed prospects announced their official offer on social media, but Vanderbilt also committed Ethan Crisp.
The Badgers, a three-star athlete from Tennessee, had offered Crisp as an outside linebacker before he moved to the Commodores, and if the team could bring him to campus for an official visit, he would. A name to watch out for this fall. Wisconsin hasn’t stopped recruiting him. This is notable given that the Badgers want to add one more outside his linebacker to his 2023 class if possible.
Badgers added another member to its 2023 recruiting class this week and secured a priority walk-on commitment from Will McDonald of Hudson, Wisconsin.
McDonald won the opportunity a week ago and just a week later he was Wisconsin’s latest commit.
McDonald, who received three stars by consensus, turned down scholarship opportunities, including from Iowa State University in Kansas, to join his brother Cade in Madison.
You can read the full breakdown of commitments. You can also find a quote about Will’s commitment here.
The Badgers made a late offer Monday for 2023 cornerback Rodrick Pleasant.
California’s four-star prospect is likely to stay in the West, with offers from many of Pac-12’s top schools, including USC, but Wisconsin is the latest school to enter the race.
Pleasant is set to make an official visit this fall, and it will be interesting to see how quickly Badgers can get involved. Wisconsin, at this point he’s USC the frontrunner, but needs to get him one of his official visits to have a chance.
Learn more about our offer to Pleasant here.
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