Luke Fickell's track record of identifying and developing talent gives hope for Wisconsin Badgers turnaround

Luke Fickell found ways to elevate the play of overlooked recruits in the past, and that can give Wisconsin Badgers fans hope for improvement his own recruits step into bigger roles.

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown during the first quarter of their game against Purdue Saturday, October 5, 2024 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Luke Fickell's time with the Badgers hasn't started how he or Wisconsin fans would have wanted.

But the way he built up the Cincinnati Bearcats can be a sign of hope for turning things around in Madison.

Fickell had a track record for identifying and developing under-the-radar talent.

Manny Navarro of The Athletic noted that the head coach had a knack for producing NFL talent, even before they joined the Big 12.

"The Bearcats have had 18 players drafted over the last five years. Four were transfers, including the only three blue-chippers to get drafted from Cincinnati. The rest were rated three-stars or lower, including top-five pick Sauce Gardner, who was the No. 1,605 prospect in the 2019 cycle."

Many Navarro, The Athletic

NEW - What the last 5 years of the NFL Draft tells us about college football recruiting https://t.co/eLXv4VXJGY

— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) June 5, 2025

He didn't take a bunch of four- and five-star players to the College Football Playoff. It was mostly three-star or lower players that developed into top competitors.

At Wisconsin, he's still building out his roster with his own recruits.

He inherited the team built by Paul Chryst and Jim Leonhard, and it takes years for the players Fickell recruited to start taking over contributing roles.

He got a late start to the 2023 recruiting class for the Badgers, joining the team at the end of 2022.

But players from that class like LB Christian Alliegro, WR Trech Kekahuna and TE Tucker Ashcraft have emerged as key contributors

UW is just starting to see the fruits of the roster Fickell has been building. NIL, the transfer portal and coaching staff changes have made the process more complicated, but he's continuing to attract quality players despite the team's recent struggles.

He found ways to elevate the play of overlooked recruits in the past, and that can give Badgers fans hope for improvement as the players he's chosen step into bigger and bigger roles.

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