The Badger Herald: Blogs: Extra Points

Updated Saturday, November 21, 2009, at 6:41 p.m.

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Herald blogs: Extra Points: Football

Football recruiting: New commit fills a huge need

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By Max Henson on May 30, 2009 11:41 AM 0 Vote 0 Votes

Arguably UW’s biggest weakness this past season was the lack of depth at defensive tackle and it is an area that needs to improve if the Badgers want to get their defense off the field. It has become quite clear that the most successful defenses are the ones that are able to rotate players along the D-line, keep the guys in the trenches fresh, and coach Bielema has put a lot of emphasis on recruiting a high number of defensive linemen.

The past couple classes have brought in a large number of defensive ends, but aside from 4-star prospect Jordan Kohout we have not seen UW have much success bringing in defensive tackles. On Saturday the Badgers added some much needed depth at the DT position by receiving a verbal commitment from Bryce Gilbert, a 285-pound prospect from Brookfield, Wis. Gilbert is one of only five players from the state of Wisconsin to receive an offer from the Badgers and he becomes the third commit in the 2010 class.

Like many Wisconsin prospects, Gilbert has flown under the radar and is not getting a lot of national attention. He has offers from some small schools and Minnesota and Iowa were beginning to show interest. The UW coaching staff likes Gilbert’s size (he should be able to get close to 300 pounds in a few years) and his upside. Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge will undeniably welcome the addition of a run-stuffing tackle that has good size and strength and the staff will certainly look to add at least one more defensive tackle to this class.

Last season it was an under-sized Mike Newkirk and injury-riddled Jason Chapman that played practically every down for the Badgers. By the fourth quarter, these guys just didn’t have much left and it showed. When these two desperately needed a breather, the guys who stepped in were painfully ineffective. UW needs more big bodies to take some snaps at the tackle position and with the addition of Kohout last year, the emergence of versatile transfer J.J. Watt, and now with Gilbert, the future of the Wisconsin D-line is certainly looking bigger and hopefully a bit brighter.