Luke Fickell admits he didn't realize Wisconsin would have as much reach as they do on recruiting trail

One of the things that Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell relies on as a strength is his ability to recruit. That’s something that during his time at Wisconsin, he’s found better than he previously expected.

Fickell dove into recruiting at Big Ten Media Days. In particular, he highlighted how he didn’t realize how much pull Wisconsin would have from coast-to-coast as the Badgers do on the recruiting trail.

“The unique thing that I kind of recognize in year two here, I didn’t realize we’d have as much reach,” Luke Fickell said. “And I don’t know if that’s a little bit of college football today with guys that are going a little bit further away and stuff, but with guys from the East Coast to the West Coast I just love the mix.”

There are a few reasons why recruiting has become more national in recent seasons. One is simply that schools have more exposure thanks to national coverage of games. The other is that the Big Ten is now a coast to coast conference and one of the premier conferences in the sport.

“I think that we’ve been able to get all kinds of guys from both East Coast and the West Coast, which still gives us the opportunity to focus on our central from Wisconsin to Chicago,” Fickell said. “But I think the ability to kind of get back after the offensive line, to get this depth created there that I think we maybe missed out on in year one, but in year two and three has been a real focus.”

While the head coach at Cincinnati, Luke Fickell became known for recruiting at a high level and he’s long since been known for his ability to recruit in the Midwest, especially Ohio.

In 2024, Wisconsin had the 22nd-ranked recruiting recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. It’s a class that includes players from as far away from Wisconsin as Hawaii, Texas, and Florida. The Class of 2025 is still in progress, but its current top three commitments come from New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Arizona.

Luke Fickell talks unique approach when recruiting QB Tyler Van Dyke

This offseason, Luke Fickell landed Tyler Van Dyke out of the Transfer Portal but, to do so, he needed a unique approach.

“I do think it’s unique that you have a really short amount of time to try to make sure you’re feeling like it’s the right one. What’s his arm strength, you can watch all these games … but do you really know the right one … Our matrix when trying to take a one-year or two-year guy even when we were at Cincinnati, it had a lot to do with what’s your history with them? What do you really know about and do you really know the family? Have you been in that home? With these quarterbacks, you don’t have that opportunity,” Fickell said.

“So it’s kind of been outside of our comfort zone. Studying, understanding who they are, but then really when you get them having to be able to ask some really tough questions. Really almost like you’re interviewing a coach, even though you’re recruiting them to say, ‘Okay, tell me about your failures, tell me why and are you mature enough to be able to move past that?’ You got eight months to get an entire locker room to follow you.”