Wisconsin Weekly Recruiting Recap
Each week, AllBadgers.com will round up all the recruiting news related to UW athletics that was covered in the past week. For simplicity sake, let's call it "Wisconsin Weekly Recruiting Recap."
Yes, there was a lot of discussions about Wisconsin's COVID-19 testing updates, the Big Ten going to a "conference-only" schedule for its fall sports programs and college athletics news dropping overall this week.
Though there were no commitments for UW regarding its football or men's basketball programs, but there was some significant news from the recruiting trail in terms of a lot of basketball offers, a major 2022 prospect dropping his current list of top six programs, and a four-star 2021 linebacker announcing his decision date.
Let's dive in.
Football
Wisconsin in Top Six for 2022 Four-Star Prospect
The Fond du Lac, Wis., native unveiled the list of top half-dozen programs on Friday. Michigan State, Michigan, Florida State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Wisconsin all made the cut.
On Saturday, AllBadgers.com published an article where Allen broke the schools and his relationship with Wisconsin. He mentioned how there is a Zoom call scheduled for Monday with UW. Read more from the rising junior on whom from the staff he speaks with, his thoughts on the other programs, and if he had an idea as to a timeline to make a decision.
2022 Projected Outside Linebacker Popeye Williams Talks Wisconsin Offer
After receiving an offer from UW and inside linebackers coach Bob Bostad, the Westfield, Ind., product spoke with AllBadgers.com last week about that opportunity, working with former NFL great Robert Mathis, and more.
2021 Four-Star Linebacker Announces 'Decision Day'
On July 10, Karlaftis announced his "decision day" to be August 9. In an edit, he noted Cal, Oregon, Purdue and Wisconsin with the words "Final Four" at the bottom. When asked if he had a top list of programs in a May interview with AllBadgers.com, he acknowledged those quartet of schools.
247Sports composite rankings, ESPN and Rivals all rate Karlaftis as a four-star prospect. Rivals ranks him the highest among the recruiting services as the No. 165 player overall and No. 11 outside linebacker in the 2021 class.
Basketball
Let's break down all the offers from the past week, shall we?
2021 Forward James Graham III
247Sports composite and Rivals rates Graham as a high-three star forward, while 247Sports's standalone rankings designate the Milwaukee (WI) Nicolet product as a four-star prospect and the No. 56 player in the country.
Read more here.
2021 Forward Markus Ilver
247Sports and Rivals rate Ilver, a Woodstock (VA) Massanutten Military Academy product, as a three-star prospect. 247Sports composite rankings designates him as the No. 213 player and No. 38 power forward in the country for the 2021 class.
AllBadgers.com covered it here.
2022 Center Joe Hurlburt
Rivals lists the Enderlin, N.D., native as a three-star prospect.
247Sports and Rivals also report four offers for Hurlburt, which include opportunities from Colorado, Iowa, North Dakota State and Wisconsin.
Those quartet of offers from the Buffaloes, Hawkeyes, Bison and Badgers have all been announced by the prep standout since June 15.
2023 Forward Gus Yalden
247Sports and Rivals both report that Yalden is a 6'10 power forward from Asheville, N.C. (The Asheville School), with the latter listing six offers already. He picked one up from Florida State this week.
Rivals also reports that Big Ten programs Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers have offered.
Both 247Sports's Evan Flood and BadgerBlitz.com's Jon McNamara tweeted that Yalden is the "first known offer" by Wisconsin in the 2023 class.
Here's more from AllBadgers.com from Thursday.
2022 Jaden Schutt
Rivals rates the Yorkville, Ill., native as a three-star recruit and No. 146 player in the country for the 2022 class. It also reports 10 offers for the prep shooting guard, who in his Twitter profile also notes he plays for the AAU Chicago Wolves. That program should sound familiar, as 2021 commit Chris Hodges currently plays for the team (as did one Wisconsin legend in Frank Kaminsky).
Since June 15, he has tweeted opportunities from Iowa, Marquette, Michigan State, Nebraska and Northwestern.
