The Wisconsin Badgers football and men’s basketball teams are very busy, respectively.
The football team is in the middle of fall camp as they prepare for their home opener against Illinois on September 3, while the basketball team is in France for a 10-day field trip.
Recruitment never stops despite a busy schedule.
To give you an overview of everything that happened in the last 7 days, here are our weekly recruitment summaries.
Basketball: 2023 SF Bubu Benjamin to make official visit
Greg Guard and the Wisconsin Badgers seem to be all-in on Minnesota tycoon Nolan Winter, who recently made an official visit to Madison.
However, with two scholarships available for the 2023 class, the staff are still kicking tires about the prospects of several wingers, including Canadian small forward Bubu Benjamin.
According to Garrett Tucker, Benjamin will be making an official visit to Madison on the weekend of September 16th.
The 6-foot-7 wing also visited Santa Clara in August and recently added scholarship offers from Lehi, Montana, and Northern Arizona after a strong performance in Las Vegas on the AAU circuit.
Benjamin represents Canada on the U18 National Team and is known for his outside shooting and defensive ability.
Badgers technically have two open scholarships for the 2023 class, but there has been a lot of chatter that the team would prefer to roll one for the loaded 2024 class. If that idea is correct, Benjamin could be a good backup plan if winter goes elsewhere. Winter recently postponed an official visit to Minnesota, so it will be interesting to see how Wisconsin navigates the timing of Benjamin’s visit and Winter’s decision.
Below are some recent highlights from the 6’7 Wing.
With no quarterback commitments yet in the 2023 recruiting class, the Wisconsin Badgers continue to scour the market for potential signal callers.
Earlier this week, Steve Wiltofon of 247 Sports The Badgers said they expressed interest in Iowa quarterback Jackson Smolick when he was fired from Tulane. This was the first public commotion that remained in the weeks.
scroll to continue
Following Saturday’s fall practice, offensive coordinator Bobby Engram was asked about the team’s approach to recruiting quarterbacks for this cycle and whether he’s seen the staff bringing in quarterbacks. Here’s what he had to say:
“I think you’re going through the process as usual. There’s no rush. I think we’ve identified a great talent that we’re going to do an advanced review on. We’ll get him.”
Based on recent interest in Smolik and Engram’s statement, it appears the staff are still planning to bring in a freshman quarterback. Wait until you see the movie before we may extend the new offer.
A couple of potentially known names:
- Mitsuboshi QB Parker Rays (IMG Academy, Florida)
Badgers had been in contact with Leise for some time, and after camping in Wisconsin over the summer, Leise was high on the hiring committee. Leise is set to play at IMG Academy this fall and could see his recruitment take off with a big senior season.
- 3-star QB Raheim Jeter (Spartanburg High School, South Carolina)
Wisconsin invited Jeter to the team’s camp several years ago, but the Badgers declined at the time. But he recently withdrew a long-standing promise from West Virginia at the end of July and then added an offer from Rutgers. If he can play well early on, he fits the mold as someone the staff can target.
Related Links:
For the latest information on All Badgers, Like + Follow our Facebook page and Twitter account:
Facebook – @AllBadgersSI
twitter – @SI_AllBadgers
You can also follow site publisher Matt Belz at: @savedbythebelz on Twitter.