Wisconsin football coaches are recruiting in two key areas to start May

The Wisconsin Badgers football staff is hitting the road in two crucial recruiting areas Thursday and Friday.

Wisconsin coaches will target Illinois and then Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday, a source confirmed to Wisconsin Badgers on SI.

The Badgers were in to see one of its 2026 targets Thursday morning in four-star edge rusher McHale Blade (Chicago Simeon), according to his Instagram story that showed outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell, defensive line coach E.J. Whitlow, safeties coach Jack Cooper and assistant inside linebackers coach Tuf Borland.

Four-star edge rusher recruit McHale Blade visited Wisconsin Badgers spring football practice in April | Jake Kocorowski / Wisconsin Badgers on SI

Blade most recently took an unofficial visit to Madison for Wisconsin's spring showcase April 19, and is a nationally prominent recruit who's evaluated as the No. 161 player in the nation for the 2026 class by On3's Industry rankings.

Borland, Cooper, Mitchell and Whitlow also stopped to see three-star defensive lineman King Liggins (Chicago Brother Rice). Liggins has been a long-time target by this Wisconsin staff and most recently took an official visit to Madison in April.

Go badgers?????? pic.twitter.com/g4uumUCO9w
— King Liggins (@King_liggins1) May 1, 2025

There's also an expectation the staff will see 2026 three-star wide receiver Zachary Washington (Wheaton St. Francis), according to the source. Washington has visited Wisconsin multiple times throughout his recruiting journey and announced in February that he would take an official visit back to Madison the weekend of May 29-June 1.

At least one Badgers assistant worked within the state Thursday. The Twitter account for Sussex Hamilton's football program thanked offensive line coach AJ Blazek for checking out its program, along with Notre Dame offensive line coach (and former long-time Wisconsin assistant) Joe Rudolph.

Thanks to @BadgerFootball @CoachBlaz , @NDFootball @CoachJoeRudolph , and @EMUFB @CoachSDuggan for stopping by to see our guys this morning! #CTW pic.twitter.com/So4aVopt8s
— 🪓Hamilton Charger Football🪓 (@HHSChargerFB) May 1, 2025

Wisconsin continues its priority of recruiting within the state and in Chicagoland . The program has previously organized "blitzes" of the two areas, as highlighted in a 2023 BadgerExtra article.

The Badgers landed three in-state scholarship signees for its 2024 class (tight end Rob Booker II, inside linebacker Landon Gauthier and offensive lineman Derek Jensen) and five for its 2025 class (tight end Emmett Bork, inside linebacker Cooper Catalano, safety Grant Dean, defensive lineman Torin Pettaway and offensive lineman Michael Roeske).

Luke Fickell and his staff have continued to cultivate talent from Illinois in his first two full recruiting cycles at Wisconsin. The 2024 class included four Illinois natives that were all evaluated as four-star recruits by at least one outlet, and running back Darrion Dupree and defensive lineman Dillan Johnson contributed early as freshmen last season.

The Badgers signed two four-star recruits from Illinois as part of its 2025 class: cornerback Jahmare Washington (Chicago Morgan Park) and outside linebacker Jaylen Williams (Palatine). The program also holds a commitment from 2026 projected edge rusher Carmelow Reed (Olympia Fields Rich Township).

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