Earlier official visits help UW
Coaches found June productive for recruiting
CHICAGO – When the NCAA tweaked its recruiting rules to allow earlier official visits for football players preparing for their senior year, Wisconsin officials hoped to parlay the change into more spring commitments.
Year 1 of the new recruiting calendar has seen UW land oral commitments from several players who took official visits in June and the Badgers are in the running for at least three more players.
Paul Chryst, entering his fourth season as UW’s head coach, cannot comment on individual recruits until they sign a national letter of intent.
However, Chryst told the Journal Sentinel the rule change has benefited UW.
“I personally liked it,” said Chryst, who is scheduled to represent UW at the Big Ten preseason meetings Tuesday.
“You can focus on the recruiting visit.”
This year recruits were able to take official visits starting April 1 of their junior year, through the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June.
In previous years, juniors were allowed to take only unofficial visits before September of their senior year. Schools pay the costs for official visits; the families of recruits pay the costs of unofficial visits.
UW officials believed getting recruits to visit during the spring, particularly in June, would highlight the beauty of the campus and city.
Chryst noted another benefit. With no games on the schedule, the players and coaches were more relaxed and able to focus on the visit.
“You can truly plan and prep for it,” Chryst said. “And I think that our players, the demands on them in the summer are different than in the fall and in the winter. …
“Last year, our biggest recruiting weekend was the weekend after the Big Ten championship game.
“So you go from all in for the game and then you try to rally to recruiting and then you land maybe two or three hours before the kids come.”
UW has 12 known commitments for its 2019 freshman class.
Four of those players committed after taking official visits last month.
They are James Williams, a defensive back from Hollywood, Fla.; Dean Engram, a wide receiver/defensive back from Washington, D.C.; Gio Paez, a defensive tackle from Charlotte, N.C.; and Semar Melvin, a defensive back from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
UW remains in the running for four other players who visited in June.
They are Spencer Lytle, an outside linebacker from Bellflower, Calif.; Bryce Benhart, an offensive lineman from Lakeville, Minn.; Isaiah Gibson, a defensive tackle from Springfield, Ohio; and Rodas Johnson, a defensive tackle from Columbus, Ohio.
The Badgers hosted a significant number of recruits on consecutive weekends in June, mixing in committed players with targets.
That allowed the players to bond and the players who already have given oral commitments to double as recruiters. That group included Menomonee Falls tailback Julius Davis and Graham Mertz, a quarterback from Overland Park, Kan.
Chryst noted that the staff still must work around the schedules of the recruits.
“They have family obligations,” he noted. “They have things to get done. When does their school get done?
“You can try to steer it but you still have to play off what is best for that individual.
“But we’ve really liked them and thought they were really good visits, the purpose of what a visit should be.”