Badgers Dip Into Texas to Offer Two Intriguing Blue-Chip Prospects

The Badgers went into the Lone Star State to offer two 2028 fast-rising prospects.

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Wisconsin football is in the heat of battle constructing its 2027 class, with official visit season on the horizon and a good core of commits already in place.

Work is always being done on future classes too, however, as the recruiting grind never stops. The Badgers have sent out a flurry of scholarship offers in recent days, many of which to prospects in the class of 2028.

Two offers in particular, sent down south to Texas, caught my eye:

OL R'Monie Edwards (Cypress, Texas)

Wisconsin's new offensive line coach Eric Mateos has done an excellent job on the recruiting trail since he's gotten to Madison. He kept Ethan McIntosh, who committed to the previous offensive line coach AJ Blazek, on board, and landed three promising linemen from inside the state in four-star Cole Reiter and twins Hunter and Reece Mallinger.

He's also positioned the Badgers well for a handful of top national recruits even if he hasn't sealed the deal. On Friday, Mateos extended an offer to another blue-chip prospect in consensus four-star R'Monie Edwards from Cypress, Texas.

This offer is intriguing mainly because Edwards is a hot shot recruit. He's considered a consensus top-seven prospect in Texas and a consensus top-60 prospect in the entire country. Edwards, who holds two dozen offers, will likely have his pick of the litter at the college level. It'll be interesting to see what Mateos can do here.

RB Ian Thomas (Tomball, Texas)

The Badgers haven't had a truly dominant tailback since Braelon Allen, but they're still recruiting like it's RBU in Madison. Wisconsin has sent out a handful of offers to blue-chip backs from Texas in the 2028 cycle including Sam Simon (La Porte) and Micah Rhodes (Spring). Now, they've sent out another to Ian Thomas, a tall, physical back out of Tomball whose recruitment has picked up steam significantly in the past month.

Thomas has 17 offers including from the likes of Texas, LSU and Florida. The four-star a consensus top-eight player in Texas, and 247Sports has him as the top running back in the entire class, while On3 has him at No. 5.

The Badgers got back on the board with a blue-chip tailback in the 2027 class, as they currently hold a verbal commitment from in-state four-star Kingston Allen. They hadn't signed a blue-chip running back since the 2024 cycle. With Wisconsin's history in producing stud tailbacks, plus a run-heavy offensive scheme, it'll always have at least a fighting chance with some top talent at halfback nationally. But how the Badgers' offense and ground game performs this fall in a make-or-break year could determine how Wisconsin is positioned for top running back recruits in 2028 and beyond.