All Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers find recruiting success in an unexpected place

As the Wisconsin Badgers put pen to paper with their top recruits in the class of 2026, a new pipeline has emerged for Luke Fickell and his staff to find young talent for their roster.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell talks with outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell during the game against Middle Tennessee
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell talks with outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell during the game against Middle Tennessee | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:

Wisconsin Badgers

As the Wisconsin Badgers put pen to paper with their top recruits in the class of 2026, a new pipeline has emerged for Luke Fickell and his staff to find young talent for their roster.

Of course, Wisconsin looks toward its in-state kids (three-star linebacker Ben Wenzel) along with some of the high school football recruiting hotspots like southern Florida (three-star wide receiver Zion Legree).

But for the 2026 class, the Badgers found their football gold mine in the state of Tennessee.

Three of Wisconsin's first recruits to lock in their committment in the early signing period come from the Volunteer State.

The first to commit was three-star defensive lineman Djidjou Bah from Germantown, Tennessee after his official visit last summer.

He was rated as a Top 70 defensive lineman and a Top 25 player in his state by Rivals and 247Sports.

Bah continued to receive other offers throughout the fall and even took an official visit with Georgia Tech in November, but Wisconsin held on and made his signing official on Wednesday.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers lose versatile 2026 commit to one of their biggest Big Ten rivals

Later in the process, the Badgers flipped three-star edge rusher Yahya Gaad from Medina, Tennessee.

He had originally committed to UCLA back in May, but he took an official visit to Wisconsin soon after, and he decommitted from the Bruins after they fired head coach DeShaun Foster.

That opened the door for the Badgers, who brought Gaad back for another visit in October before securing his commitment and signing him officially on Wednesday.

247Sports and ESPN both have him as a Top 20 player in the state of Tennessee and a Top 75 edge rusher in the nation.

Then, Fickell's staff made one more big move in Tennessee at the last minute before the early signing period.

Wide receivers coach Jordan Reid successfully flipped three-star receiver Keeshawn Tabuteau from Chattanooga.

He had been committed to in-state Vanderbilt since June, but the Badgers swung his commitment on Monday without ever bringing him in for an official visit.

Tabuteau is the highest-rated of the three Tennessee recruits Wisconsin signed on Wednesday. ESPN and 247Sports have him as a Top 15 player in the state and a Top 70 wide receiver in the country.

The Badgers didn't have any any Tennessee players in the 2025 recruiting class, but they did land three-star defensive lineman Hank Weber from Brentwood in 2024.

He transferred to FCS Samford after one season at UW.

Wisconsin's roster has two other players who attended high school in Tennessee, defensive linemen Charles Perkins and Parker Petersen, though both came to the Badgers through the transfer portal.

It's a credit to defensive line coach E.J. Whitlow for consistently attracting big bodies from the Volunteer State.

This type of recruiting tends to have a ripple effect, where future prospects want to come play with Badgers they knew in high school.

Wisconsin fans should keep a closer eye on Tennessee in the 2027 class and beyond.

More Wisconsin Badgers News:

Published
Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

Home/Recruiting