Wisconsin Badgers 2026 football recruiting class starting to catch up after April commitments

The end of May and first couple weekends of June will be huge for Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers to secure the majority of its 2026 class.

But the program made up ground last month with some key commitments.

Wisconsin sits with six known verbal commitments as of May 4, which is near the pace set by Fickell's 2024 class (seven).

Four of those 2026 commits - edge rusher Carmelow Reed (Olympia Fields Rich Township, Illinois), cornerback Carsen Eloms (Fishers, Indiana), quarterback Ryan Hopkins (Santa Ana Mater Dei, California) and offensive lineman Maddox Cochrane (Richmond Benedictine College Prep, Virginia) - were announced in the month of April alone.

The Badgers had 10 commits at this time last year for its 2025 class, though quarterback Landyn Locke and linebacker Brenden Anes eventually did not join the program.

It's been a busy start to the 2026 class for many Big Ten teams, especially USC and their torrid pace of 20-plus commits before summer officials even begin.

Here's where the Badgers stand nationally and within the conference by the three major recruiting outlets before a busy summer schedule commences.

On3 Industry Rankings

On3 and 247Sports each have their own standalone ranking and an algorithm that calculates the outlets' individual evaluations and combines them into one. On3 has its industry rankings.

On3 Industry rankings	Rank/Notes
Ranking nationally/Big Ten	No. 42/No. 13 of 18
Wisconsin's average rating per recruit	86.54 (all six players are three-star recruits)
Highest-rated recruit	QB Ryan Hopkins (88.25)
Which Big Ten schools are ahead of Wisconsin	USC, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Iowa, Maryland, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, UCLA, Minnesota, Indiana

247Sports Composite Rankings

247Sports composite rankings	Rank/Notes
Ranking nationally/Big Ten	No. 42/No. 11
Wisconsin's average rating per recruit	87.29 (all are three-star recruits)
Highest-rated recruit	EDGE Carmelow Reed (0.8828)
Which Big Ten schools are ahead of Wisconsin	USC, Penn State, Ohio State, Illinois, Oregon, Iowa, Washington, Minnesota, Rutgers, Indiana

Rivals

Rivals	Rank/Notes
Ranking nationally/Big Ten	No. 48/No. 12
Wisconsin's average rating per recruit	3.17 (one four-star, five three-star recruits; T-14th in Big Ten)
Highest-rated recruit	QB Ryan Hopkins (four-star, No. 25 QB in 2026 class)
Which Big Ten schools are ahead of Wisconsin	USC, Ohio State, Penn State, Illinois, Oregon, Iowa, Washington, Rutgers, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana

It's too early to be worried

It's still early in this recruiting cycle. For those that live and die by recruiting rankings, there are several teams ahead of the Badgers in average rating per recruit on On3 and 247Sports that are within 1-1.5 points.

If the program secures some of its top targets, that could swing Wisconsin back at least into the middle of the pack of the conference and towards the upper-third.

Don't forget that the program locked down two former four-star Michigan commits, quarterback Carter Smith and outside linebacker Jaylen Williams, in November before the 2025 early signing period.

Each outlet also updates its player rankings throughout the recruiting cycle. On3 bumped Thomas Heiberger and Luke Emmerich up to four-star status last year.

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