Wisconsin Football Could Sign its Most Blue-Chip Recruits Ever in '27

Recruiting rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt.

And yet, regardless of your stance on the polarizing idea in college football that "stars matter" — there's ample evidence to support both sides at this point — we can all agree that they matter at least little.

Wisconsin football has never traditionally been a recruiting powerhouse, but they also haven't been slouches on the recruiting trail either. Under head coach Luke Fickell, recruiting has actually been one of the few aspects of the program (perhaps the only one) that's looked consistently competent.

By now, it's no secret that the Badgers have absolutely killed it on the recruiting trail this season. Wisconsin started hot, locking up the top players from a particularly strong in-state talent pool for the foundation of the class. Once that concrete foundation was laid, the Badgers began to pick off top prospects from out of state.

We're through two of the big official visit weekends, with several more batches of prospects still set to descend on Madison throughout the rest of June. There's a long way to go, but Wisconsin currently sits at 20 commitments, with the No. 13 class in the entire country (5th in the Big Ten) on 247Sports and the No. 24 class in the nation (9th in the Big Ten) on On3/Rivals.

But not only do the Badgers have a healthy 20 commitments in tow, they've got some serious talent already pledged to Madison as well.

Wisconsin currently has eight blue-chip recruits (four or five-star prospects) committed in the class of 2027, per On3/Rivals. That means they're two away from signing their most ever.

Here's a breakdown of the number of blue-chip prospects Wisconsin has signed in the internet recruiting era on each major recruiting website.

Author's note: The table stops at 2011 because that's the last year for which 247Sports has player rankings.

Year	247 Blue Chips	On3/Rivals Blue Chips
2027	5	8
2026	1	0
2025	5	4
2024	8	8
2023	1	2
2022	3	4
2021	11	9
2020	6	5
2019	4	3
2018	3	1
2017	5	6
2016	6	4
2015	3	4
2014	6	6
2013	4	4
2012	4	4
2011	2	3

Now, Wisconsin is only up to five blue chips on 247Sports for the 2027 cycle; if we're evaluating purely based on that company's rankings, the Badgers have plenty more four-star players to sign if they want to break their record. But for On3/Rivals, the most four or five-star recruits they've ever signed is nine back in 2021 — they've got a real shot to top that this year.

Who could be next?

Wisconsin has put in a lot of the heavy lifting already for official visit season. The upcoming weekends don't appear to be nearly as stacked with big-time targets, but that's not to say the Badgers can't stay scorching hot on the recruiting trail.

Two more blue-chip prospects coming off visits to Madison? Offensive tackle Alijah Shaw from Leawood, Kansas and wideout Chuck Alexander from Cincinnati, Ohio. Both could very feasibly be the Badgers' next big-time commitment.

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