The University of Wisconsin football team added 28 members between scholarship players and preferred walk-ons on National Signing Day Wednesday.
One of them is cornerback Madison Cone. The North Carolina native is one of seven early-enrollees — meaning they graduate high school early and join the program early — and met with reporters Wednesday afternoon at the McClain Center on campus.
Here’s a Q&A from part of the three-star recruit’s media session:
Q: How early in the process of recruiting did you know that you wanted to get at a place early and get a head start on things?
A: I kind of been knowing since my freshman year. I knew some early guys that did the early enrollment process. Talking to them, they only had good things to say, so it was something I decided that if the opportunity came, if football was meant to be, that I was going to leave early.
Q: How can [defensive backs coach] Jim Leonhard make you better this spring?
A: Talking to the guys, I’ve heard nothing but positive things about him. He knows a lot about the game. He’s very detailed. That experience behind him. Him being an undersized DB like myself, I know I have a lot of different techniques and things that I can do. I’m just looking forward to jumping in and learning from him as much as I can.
Q: What’s your goal for spring ball?
A: Compete. That’s what the coaches have talked to me about — just come in and compete, compete, compete. So I’m just gonna come, I’m gonna lay it on the line and I’m just going to see what happens from there.
Q: What did you know about Wisconsin until they started recruiting you?
A: Honestly, nothing. Honestly, when they first offered me, I called my parents to tell them but in my mind I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not going up there, it’s cold.’ I was like if I go far from home, I’m probably gonna go down south. Honestly, in North Carolina, when you think Wisconsin, everybody you talk to like, ‘You gonna freeze to death.’ When you come up here and actually see the place, it’s not like that at all. That’s what I tell people back home.
Q: Jack Coan said that when he committed here, his friends were saying, “Why is he going someplace where all it is is cornfields?”
A: If you haven’t been here, that’s, I guess, how people see Wisconsin. Like I said, a lot of people haven’t been here to see this. So when they think Wisconsin, I guess it’s known for cornfields and cheese … People ask me the same thing. Why Wisconsin? Why Wisconsin? And I tell them, I could sit here and talk to you all day [about it]. I’m like, ‘You gotta come up here and check it out yourself.’
Q: This is a big group of guys that are enrolling early. I know you’ve only been around each other for a couple days, but how is your connection? How is your bond?
A: Honestly, I’ve only been with these guys a couple of weeks but it feels like I’ve been with them for a year already. Just the time we spend here working and in our apartments, we’ve made bonds. We went out to eat together. I feel like I might know more about these guys than their friends back home.
