The Good, the Bad, and the Nuanced: Diving into Wisconsin football’s current 2026 class
What to make of Wisconsin football's upcoming class as preseason camp begins.
The University of Wisconsin football program’s 2026 class has picked up some noticeable wins but also has missed out on some key recruits as preseason camp begins.
Yet there’s also some context that fans should take into consideration when discussing the current state of this particular group of future Badgers.
Wisconsin currently sits at 14 verbal commitments (scholarship players) for its 2026 class, which is a far smaller group compared to where the program sat for its 2024 (20) and 2025 (22) cycles as of July 28 the previous two years. The Badgers eventually announced, after some decommitments and other late additions, 22 signees for its 2024 class and 24* for its 2025 class during those early signing periods.
Here’s the good, the bad and some much-needed context when currently looking at Wisconsin’s 2026 class.
*Note quarterback Landyn Locke is now at Sam Houston State, and according to a Wisconsin spokesperson, defensive lineman Drayden Pavey did not enroll at the university.
The Good
Another notable first weekend of official visits helps fill up the class
Wisconsin technically added nine 2026 commitments in June (before Zachary Taylor’s flip to Texas Christian), and the following seven visited the weekend of May 29-June 1. The announcements started on June 1 with defensive lineman Arthur Scott (Streetsboro, Ohio), followed by in-state linebacker Ben Wenzel (Appleton North) and defensive lineman Djidjou Bah (Germantown, Tennessee).
The good news continued to become public later that week with tight ends Jack Janda (Novi Detroit Catholic Central, Michigan) and Jack Sievers (Everett Archbishop Murphy, Washington) declaring their intentions to become Badgers. The end of June saw announcements from four-star wide receiver Jayden Petit (Naples St. John Neumann, Florida) and running back Amari Latimer (Tyrone Sandy Creek, Georgia).
Wide receiver Zion Legree (Destin, Florida), who took an official visit the weekend of June 13-15, is the other player who gave a commitment last month outside of Taylor.