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Luke Fickell used hometown connection to recruit transfer TE Jacob Harris to Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell had to go all the way back to his days growing up in Westerville, Ohio in order to recruit tight end Jacob Harris in the transfer portal from Bowling Green.
Lorin Cox|
Tight end Jacob Harris grew up and played high school football in Wisconsin Badgers coach Luke Fickell's hometown in Ohio.
Tight end Jacob Harris grew up and played high school football in Wisconsin Badgers coach Luke Fickell's hometown in Ohio. | John Hulkenberg / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell had to go all the way back to his days growing up in Westerville, Ohio in order to recruit tight end Jacob Harris in the transfer portal.

The hometown connection proved to be critical in getting the big-bodied tight end to transfer to Wisconsin from Bowling Green.

In a sit-down interview with general manager Marcus Sedberry, Fickell revealed that both he and Harris are from the same town, and they used those ties in the process of recruiting him in transfer portal.

“There were some connections there that I think helped it along a little bit," Fickell said. "Knowing some people that have had a connection with the family has allowed them to do their homework to ask questions about us and allowed us to do our homework to ask questions about him.”

The head coach said that he knows Harris' dad, Josh Harris, who was a standout quarterback at Bowling Green and came from the same town.

When Josh Harris was quarterbacking for BGSU, his head coach was Urban Meyer, who would go on to be the head coach at Ohio State when Fickell was on staff for the Buckeyes.

That made the connections natural for Jacob Harris to take a visit to Madison and feel comfortable committing to the Badgers.

Last year for the Falcons, he caught 19 passes for 182 yards and five touchdowns.

Listed at 6-foot-4, 244 pounds, he offers a big-bodied replacement for Tucker Ashcraft, who entered the transfer portal this winter.

Harris has the opportunity to earn a bigger role for the Badgers, though he'll be competing with another transfer addition in Southern Illinois tight end Ryan Schwendeman.

Wisconsin also brings back promising young tight ends Grant Stec and Jackson McGohan among others, setting the stage for plenty of battles at the position this spring and fall.

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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.

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