Badgers Hall of Famer calls on Luke Fickell to put more emphasis on recruiting in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers have a lot to fix this season during an abysmal losing streak that doesn't have an end in sight.

But Luke Fickell also has some bigger picture issues to address for the long-term health of the football program.

Former players have been expressing concerns about this staff's efforts toward recruiting in-state athletes, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas is the latest to lend his voice to the issue.

In an interview with WISC-TV in Madison, he urged Fickell and his staff to make Wisconsin high school players a larger priority.

"We need to put more energy and effort into recruiting the players within Wisconsin," Thomas said. "They're going to be the guys that talk about the values and the tradition that's here, that build a culture in your locker room that was so much a part of Badger football past that's just not a part of it right now."

Thomas noted that when Barry Alvarez first took over the program, he said he was going to build a wall around Wisconsin and not let in-state football players go anywhere else.

The star left tackle thinks that was key toward building the culture that allowed him and others to out-play their recruiting status and thrive.

"Finding guys that maybe don't look the same on film as guys that you could recruit in other states often times become your best players, your All-Americans, your Jim Leonhards, because the Badgers meant something to them," Thomas said. "Guys that maybe weren't great high school players are willing to work themselves into great players."

Related: Luke Fickell's hand-picked recruits emerge as bright spots in Badgers' loss to Oregon

Fickell currently has one in-state player committed for the 2026 recruiting class with Appleton North linebacker Ben Wenzel.

According to the databases at Rivals and 247 Sports®, Wisconsin had made offers to at least four other in-state recruits for next year.

Three of them have already committed to other programs: Janesville Parker OT Gavin Meier (Minnesota), River Falls OL Samuel Simpson (Indiana) and Winneconne WR Brody Shaffer (Iowa)

The only in-state recruit that the Badgers have offered for 2026 that remains uncommitted is Oak Creek offensive lineman James Thomas.

Fickell landed five in-state recruits in his 22-player class of 2025. The headliner is linebacker Cooper Catalano from Germantown who has earned significant playing time as a true freshman.

The school has just one in-state player left from Fickell's 2024 class: linebacker Landon Gauthier.

"[Luke Fickell] has no interest in [building relationships]... There is ZERO intention in keeping Wisconsin kids in the program." -@BradNortmanisms @ESPNMadison | #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/vBMd7dDvll
— Kyle, Brust, and Nortman (@KBNESPN) October 20, 2025

From the coaching staff's perspective, they're trying to find the best players they can to fill the Badgers roster.

Landing in-state players is important for the culture that Joe Thomas talks about, but landing top talents from other states with even better players will always be important for building a contender.

It's a new recruiting landscape in the age of revenue sharing and NIL, and this staff has to figure out the balance between developing the kids in Wisconsin and swinging for the fences across state lines.

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