With National Signing Day coming and going on Feb. 1 every year, Wisconsin football head coach Paul Chryst closed the book on his third recruiting class since he took over the program.
This year, Wisconsin, fresh off a Cotton Bowl victory, signed 19 players to scholarship and added 10 walk-ons. Highlights of the class include four in-state offensive lineman, a quarterback from Long Island and a late four-star receiver recruit.
“We couldn’t be more confident about this group and the fit that they are with Wisconsin,” Chryst said. “That’s when you feel really good about it. It’s a long process for the prospective student-athletes that we can now call Badgers and part of our football family.”
Meet the scholarship players – organized by position – and see what they, and their coaches, have to say about joining Wisconsin football.
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Quarterbacks (2)
Jack Coan ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Sayville, New York (Sayville High School)
Height: 6’3″ — Weight: 200 pounds
Coan emerges from the unheralded football landscape of Long Island, where its best athletes play lacrosse and football takes a back seat. But Coan passed on a lacrosse scholarship at Notre Dame to pursue college football at UW.
Although unfamiliar with the program until his recruitment heated up, Coan said Chryst’s track record of developing quarterbacks was desirable.
“He’s got a bunch of quarterbacks in the NFL right now,” Coan said. “He’s a great quarterback developer. I feel like he gets the full potential out all of his recruits, whether it’s quarterback or anything else.”
Coan was named New York Gatorade Player of the Year his senior season and was a three-time first-team all-state selection. He also set Long Island career records in passing yards (9,787) and touchdown passes (128).
Danny Vanden Boom ★ ★
Hometown: Kimberly, Wisconsin (Kimberly High School)
Height: 6’5″ — Weight: 200 pounds
The Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year, Vanden Boom’s name may sound familiar to Badger fans because his father, Matt, was an all-American defensive back at UW before being drafted by Buffalo in 1983.
Most recently, Vanden Boom led Kimberly to back-to-back undefeated seasons and was voted first-team all-state.
Running backs (1)
Jonathan Taylor ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Salem, New Jersey (Salem High School)
Height: 5’11” — Weight: 215 pounds
A three-star recruit, Taylor ran for 4,642 yards and 51 total touchdowns throughout his career. He was awarded first-team all-state as a senior and broke former Badger running back Corey Clement’s South Jersey single-season record of 2,510 yards. His combination of size and speed allows him to get to the edge and run behind his pads at the same time.
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Wide receivers (4)
Danny Davis ★ ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Springfield, Ohio (Springfield High School)
Height: 6’3″ — Weight: 180 pounds
Wisconsin hunted Davis hard in January and his commitment came right down to the wire, announcing his decision today at about 2 p.m., much to the coaching staff’s delight.
Davis is a potential vertical threat the UW offense could use. The four-star recruit was a big get for the Badgers in an already-talented receiver class. As a senior, he rushed for 1,195 yards and seven touchdowns, while catching 22 passes for 559 yards and six touchdowns.
Cade Green ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Austin, Texas (Lake Travis High School)
Height: 6’0″ — Weight: 190 pounds
Like Coan, Green passed on the chance to play college lacrosse (Air Force). As a senior, his team won the Class 6A Division I state championship. He recorded 56 catches and 1,044 receiving yards with 13 touchdowns on the year to earn second-team All-Central Texas.
Deron Harrell ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Denver, Colorado (East High School)
Height: 6’3″ — Weight: 178 pounds
Another tall target, Harrell is an early enrollee learning the ropes already. The Denver Prep League Offensive MVP gray-shirted last season, meaning he began school a semester late to maintain five years of eligibility. During that time, he focused on training to prepare for Division I football. Harrell made one thing clear — he wants the ball in his hands.
“I just want to contribute and help our team win,” he said.
His father Damian is an Arena League Hall of Famer and one of the best receivers in the league’s history, holding the record for receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions.
Emmet Perry ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Grand Prairie, Texas (DeSoto High School)
Height: 6’2″ — Weight: 175 pounds
Perry’s receivers coach was Terrance Orr II, UW’s Chris Orr’s older brother. All three are DeSoto alums. DeSoto won the Class 6A Division II title, going undefeated, with the help of Perry, who caught 45 passes for nine touchdowns and 830 yards.
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Offensive Line (4)
Tyler Beach ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Grafton, Wisconsin (Port Washington High School)
Height: 6’6″ — Weight: 280 pounds
The next time Beach allows a sack, it will be the first time in three seasons of playing he will have done so. The three-star recruit was selected first-team all-state by both the media and the coaches. Massive presence on the field and the undersized competition of high school play was no match for him. Beach’s dad, Bruce, played football at Air Force and Ohio Northern.
Logan Bruss ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Appleton, Wisconsin (Kimberly High School)
Height: 6’5″ — Weight: 270 pounds
Bruss was a finalist for the Joe Thomas Award, given to the state’s top senior offensive lineman, along with Beach. The three-star recruit was a unanimous all-state selection by the AP his senior year.
Alex Fenton ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Menomonie, Wisconsin (Menomonie High School)
Height: 6’5″ — Weight: 290 pounds
Fenton didn’t play offensive line until his senior year, after playing at defensive tackle and tight end his junior season. He was part of an offensive line that allowed just one sack all season and was a consensus all-state first-team selection.
Kayden Lyles ★ ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin (Middleton High School)
Height: 6’3″ — Weight: 315 pounds
Probably the lineman most ready to make an immediate impact, Lyles enrolled early. His mobility and pulling capabilities set him apart, and he can play all three interior positions on the line. Rudolph said he will begin at guard.
The unanimous first-team all-state selection also won the Thomas Award. His older brother, Karé, will be a redshirt freshman at quarterback next season. His parents are both UW alums as well.
“At first I said I didn’t really want to come here because I wanted to do something on my own, go somewhere my parents haven’t been,” Lyles said.
That all changed when he fell in love with the coaching staff and the school on Karé’s official visit.
Tight end (1)
Jake Ferguson ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin (Memorial High School)
Height: 6’5″ — Weight: 220 pounds
Ferguson will be well-recognized in the program — his older brother, Jake, plays for the Badgers and his grandfather happens to be some guy named Barry Alvarez. But it wasn’t that connection that turned UW onto Ferguson — it was his play.
Teetering between a three- and four-star recruit, Ferguson had 1,795 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns on his career while also playing defense, and is another three-sport athlete joining the Badgers this summer.
Defensive line (1)
Aaron Vopal ★ ★ ★
Hometown: De Pere, Wisconsin (De Pere High School)
Height: 6’7″ — Weight: 290 pounds
Gifted with incredible natural size, the three-star recruit earned first-team all-state honors after his senior season. His two-year varsity career included 117 tackles, 20 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks. Vopal will play defensive end at UW.
Linebacker (1)
Andrew Van Ginkel ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Rock Valley, Iowa (Rock Valley/Iowa Western Community College)
Height: 6’4″ — Weight: 230 pounds
Van Ginkel took a winding path to UW, starting at South Dakota and transferring to Iowa Western before committing to UW. He redshirted his first year at South Dakota, then started all 11 games at defensive end the next season. At Iowa Western, he recorded 50 tackles, 13 for a loss, and 3.5 sacks in 11 games before enrolling early at UW.
“[Outside linebackers’ coach Tim Tibesar] just told me if you work hard, there will be a place for you,” Van Ginkel said. “That just really hit me. It’s a hardworking program here, everything has to be earned. That’s my biggest motto right now, is ‘I’m not given anything.’ I have to earn everything so don’t take anything for granted.”
Chryst said Van Ginkel’s recruitment picked up because of the potential they saw to contribute right away.
Cornerback (2)
Madison Cone ★ ★ ★
Kernersville, North Carolina (East Forsyth High School)
Height: 5’9″ — Weight: 175 pounds
Cone, one of the seven early enrollees, is an energetic playmaker who wants to contribute right away, despite a crowded corps of young cornerbacks ready to see the field. A three-star recruit, he accumulated 27 interceptions throughout his career and has great aggression to go snap the ball out of the air.
“I tell everybody I came here to compete,” Cone said. “I know those guys, they plan on playing. I plan on playing. I put in that extra work in high school to get here. Now that I’m here, I’m gonna put in some extra work trying to set myself apart from those guys.”
Faion Hicks ★ ★ ★
Hometown: Miami, Florida (Flanagan High School)
Height: 5’11” — Weight: 185 pounds
Hicks, like Cone, is somewhat undersized but possesses superior ball skills. The three-star recruit saw the likes of former Badger Sojourn Shelton and current UW defensive backs D’Cota Dixon, Natrell Jamerson and Derrick Tindal as examples of Floridians who have excelled in Madison. Yet, the weather is a small concern at first, Hicks joked.
“It’s new, very new,” Hicks said. “The coldest I ever felt was like 40-somethin. When I got here it was like 6 degrees, I was like, ‘Man!’ I’m kind of getting used to it, it’s not that bad unless it starts snowing and stuff like that. It’s OK.”
Hicks played both sides of the ball in high school, rushing for 1,356 yards and 13 touchdowns while intercepting seven passes and recording 75 tackles.
Safety (1)
Scott Nelson ★ ★ ★
Hometown: St. Clair Shores, Michigan (University of Detroit Jesuit)
Height: 6’2″ — Weight: 190 pounds
Nelson committed in January, considerably late for a class that was pretty set by the start of the season. UW didn’t necessarily need a safety, but defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard said Nelson was too good of a fit to pass up on.
Nelson has size and the three-star recruit finished his high school career with 10 interceptions and 164 tackles.
