Here's a decent article on Wisconsin's 2011 recruiting class I found in TucsonCitizen.com, of all places. It's chock-full of Caste-speak, but I
like coach Bielema's attitude in it...I just hope he follows up on
actually giving a scholarship to in-state RB start Joe Schobert for the
2012 class.
<h3>Wisconsin outperforms recruiting rank</h3>
by Jack Carey on Feb. 01, 2011, under USA Today Sports
At Wisconsin, sometimes the recruiting numbers just don't add up.
And that's fine with coach Bret? Bielema, who's more concerned with
stars during the fall than in February.
The Badgers, Big Ten co-champions and Rose Bowl participants for the
2010 season, are prime examples of teams that almost always do better
when the games are played than when the recruiting services are ranking
classes on signing day.
"It's a coaches' game,"Â says Allen Wallace, longtime publisher of
SuperPrep magazine and the national recruiting editor for Scout.com.
"Even though I'm in the recruiting business, it's always about coaching
to your system and the development of players. That's a program that
doesn't usually recruit athletes ranking as highly as others programs
get, but almost always has a good team."Â
SuperPrep had the last five Badgers classes rated 40th, 48th, 37th,
41st and 39th nationally, rarely even among the best in the Big Ten. Yet
the players from those groups went 11-2 last season and finished tied
for eighth in the final USA TODAY Coaches Poll after losing the Rose
Bowl by two points to unbeaten TCU.
"This group of seniors was ranked seventh or eighth in the Big Ten
when we brought them in, and I was furious about that,"Â says Bielema,
who disdains the national recruiting ratings. "(Athletics director and
former coach) Barry Alvarez said to me: ‘Don't worry about that now;
worry about where they're ranked in four or five years.'?"Â
Says Wallace: "It's an example of great coaching and recruiting well
to fit their needs.
They don't get a lot of headline players or
five-star guys. But they play hard-core football, dominate in the
trenches and on the offensive line, and they know their identity
exceptionally well.
"They're not flashy, but they're rough, tough and ready to play you
in any parking lot at any time. It's about toughness and player
development."Â
Bielema knows what he needs and doesn't want his assistants getting
caught up in the star system or paying any attention to rankings.
"What we talk about is finding a Wisconsin guy, even if he's in
Florida or Ohio or anywhere in the country,"Â Bielema says. "We try to
find a kid that fits here academically, athletically and socially. And
what I've really learned is kids have to like to play football here. We
drill it in them, and they experience it 365 days a year. You can't be
tough players just on game days. You have to do it all year-round, and
you have to like to practice, too."Â
And recruiting goes on year-round, starting right near home base.
Shortly after signing day, Bielema says, he and his staff will sit down
and look at in-state prospects for the future.
"We'll see who we're going to maybe offer, and then, the next phase
comes next summer with our camp,"Â says Bielema, who had 49 in-state
players on the 2010 roster.
"We always start in-state and build around it. If a guy is from out
of state, we'll try to ask if we think he's going to be better than
somebody from in-state."Â
Bielema points out that lightly recruited linebacker Chris Borland
and running back James White have been named Big Ten freshman of the
year the past two seasons.
White was rated as the 70th-best running back in the nation by Scout
and 42nd-best by Rivals.com, which also listed him as the 65th-best
overall player in Florida.
"James was the second-string running back in his own (high school)
program,"Â Bielema recalls. Highly touted St. Thomas Aquinas High
teammate Giovanni Bernard went to North Carolina.
But as a first-year player for the Badgers in 2010, White ran for 1,052 yards on only 156 carries and had 14 touchdowns.
Bielema says he believes his public disregard for recruiting services is one reason his classes are not rated higher.
"A kid will be recruited by us, then if another school recruits him, he gets two more stars,"Â the coach says.
Both Wallace and Mike Farrell, national recruiting analyst for
Rivals.com, say they don't operate that way.
Farrell says one of the
reasons the Badgers' classes are not ranked higher is because there
often are not many highly regarded recruits in the state.
"They don't have a great base, but they find kids that can do what
they want them to do,"Â Farrell says.
"They get big, massive kids who can
run-block, and big, physical backs. And they go after smart
overachievers</font> for defensive linemen and linebackers, who will knock you
on your butt.
"They get some speedy defensive backs and a quarterback who can
manage the game.
If you stick to that formula, you can compete in the
Big Ten and be successful. If you did that in the Pac-10 or
(Southeastern Conference) you'd have trouble, but (the Badgers) know who
they are and don't fancy themselves any differently."Â
http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-sports/2011/02/01/wisconsin-outperforms-recruiting-rank
