Talent Tracker: Could Wisconsin's slow start under Luke Fickell kickstart youth movement?

Your weekly serving of college football roster acquisition thoughts -- recruiting, transfer portal, you name it -- from 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins. 

Wisconsin is behind schedule, but these things take time

When the 2022 coaching carousel came to a close, a pair of Big Ten hires had the scouting and personnel world buzzing: Matt Rhule at Nebraska and Luke Fickell at Wisconsin.

Both coaches were known behind the scenes for their ability to not only identify talent but develop it. During Rhule's time at Temple and Baylor, he signed nearly two dozen recruits who went on to be selected in the NFL Draft. Only one of them was graded as a five- or four-star prospect coming out of high school. He had a philosophy then that was: If you're gonna miss, miss fast. 

Fickell had just as much success with three-star castoffs at Cincinnati, with future pros like Sauce Gardner and Desmond Ridder helping the Bearcats make back-to-back New Year's Six bowls and crashing the College Football Playoff, the first Group of Five program to do so. 

It's still very early in both Rhule's and Fickell's tenures, but after the first few games of Year 2 for both coaches, Rhule is ahead of schedule in Lincoln with ballyhooed freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola and a havoc-creating front seven, while Fickell is still trying to get things off the ground in Madison. Each team has a similar record but Nebraska (3-1) has looked much more convincing -- even though its home loss to Illinois by a touchdown is worse than Wisconsin's 32-point home loss to Alabama, its largest since 2014. 

The Badgers (2-1) travel to No. 13 USC on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) as two-touchdown underdogs following what has been an uninspiring start to the season. Not many expected Wisconsin to take down Alabama before an injury to transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke nixed any idea of an upset, but one-score fourth-quarter leads over both Western Michigan and South Dakota aren't why Fickell was given a seven-year contract.

Heading into the weekend, Wisconsin ranks 96th nationally in total offense and 41st in total defense. The Badgers came into the year without a preseason All-Big Ten selection, and through three games, senior safety Hunter Wohler is the only player really making a case that maybe he should have been on the list. For lack of a better term, Wisconsin looks average and its roster is indeed so, and that has the Talent Tracker wondering if and when Fickell is going to kick things into gear.

Fickell seems to be asking himself the same question. After the loss to the Crimson Tide, he told reporters that the Badgers are looking for something to hang their hats on. A quick glance at the roster suggests that all the young talent the coaching staff has assembled would be a good place to start, although not many of the first- or second-year players Fickell recruited have actually broken through and secured a contributing role. Maybe that changes depending on how things go against the Trojans.

Of the five true freshmen who have gotten offensive or defensive snaps for the Badgers, three of them ranked inside last year's Top247: defensive lineman Dillan Johnson (No. 162), offensive tackle Kevin Heywood (50) and running back Dilin Jones (139). The other two, cornerback Xavier Lucas and running back Darrion Dupree, may have been three-star recruits but they too were considered massive wins for Wisconsin in a 2024 recruiting class that finished ranked No. 23 overall by 247Sports (the Badgers' current 2025 class ranks 27th). 

One of the reason Wisconsin fans were ready to move on from the nine-and-10-win comfort that was the Paul Chryst era was in the hopes a new coach could raise the ceiling. Fickell deserves all the time in the world to execute his blueprint and a closer inspection shows that there is talent on the roster, and it may just be time to let those guys run wild. 

Records for past four Wisconsin coaches through 17 games

The sample size is small, but all five youngsters look promising. The same goes for the sophomore- and redshirt-freshman class, which finds itself in a similar holding pattern. Tucker Ashcraft, who leads the team's tight ends in snaps this season, is in line to pick up his first career start at USC this weekend. However, outside of Ashcraft, the rest of the group is listed as backups on the depth chart. That includes wide receiver Trech Kekahuna, who provided a pair of chunk plays in last year's bowl game against LSU.

Fickell -- like most coaches -- is going to play the players who give him the best chance to win each week, but getting the underclassmen more and more involved on Saturdays could pay dividends at some point down the line, especially if the Badgers collect a few losses than they wanted with Van Dyke sidelined. 

A tale of two reclassifications at Alabama

By now, the term "reclassification" has entered the vernacular for any die-hard college football fan, and with NIL here to stay, the number of kids electing to skip their senior years of high school and start college early is only going to increase.

It's hard to judge if the move is the right one given the limited data points, but when Alabama lines up with Georgia on Saturday night, two of the more high-profile reclassifications will be on display for the Crimson Tide in wide receiver Ryan Williams and pass rusher LT Overton, who were each ballyhooed five-stars in both their original recruiting classes and the ones they jumped up to. 

Williams should be preparing for an upcoming homecoming dance, but instead, the 17-year-old has quickly emerged as the go-to playmaker for one of the sport's biggest brands, having caught 10 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns in his first three games.

Overton, on the other hand, has taken a while to find his footing. After playing 323 snaps for Texas A&M in 2022, Overton saw his playing time with the Aggies decrease in 2023 before transferring to Alabama this offseason. He leads the Crimson Tide with 13 pressures this season.

Although they were on different timelines, both Williams and Overton could be classified as reclassification success stories. Same with New York Jets rookie running back Braelon Allen, who joined Wisconsin as a minor. But plenty of others have struggled to catch on and make an impact after racing to start their collegiate careers. The perils of reclassification is a topic I'm obsessed with, to an irrational level. 

Two years ago, Kirby Smart brought Marcus Washington in early hoping to add some cornerback depth. Washington played just two snaps for the Bulldogs before transferring to Louisville and then surfacing at Syracuse, where he has yet to see the field. Other reclassifications that haven't exactly panned out include Oregon wide receiver Kyle Kasper, Kentucky/Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, UNC/Texas A&M/UNLV cornerback Tony Grimes, Washington/Oklahoma running back Emeka Megwa, and Texas A&M/ULM pass rusher Donnell Harris.

Having polled a variety of contacts at the Power Four level, the general consensus is that eliminating a 12-, 13-, or even 14-game senior season can stymie player development, as those in-game reps are much more valuable than the ones a player would receive on a scout team during practice.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Williams was the first sophomore to ever be named Mr. Football in Alabama. He scored every four times he touched the ball at Saraland High, amassing 4,440 yards of total offense and 71 touchdowns in three years. Overton was also uber-productive, racking up 114.5 tackles for loss and 54 sacks in four high school seasons after making varsity as an eighth grader. As for Allen? He was squatting 610 pounds his first semester on campus.

Want to find the next Cam Ward? Here's a start

The transfer portal window won't open for two more months, and the quarterback market will all but surely drive conversation. Only time will tell which signal callers enter, but front offices are likely going to be hunting for the next Cam Ward after watching the Washington State transfer turn Miami into a legitimate College Football Playoff contender (and let's not forget Washington State mined Cam Ward out of the Incarnate Word two seasons ago). 

Buyer beware: The odds of finding another Ward are slim. Ward has exceeded all expectations for the undefeated Hurricanes, ranking first nationally in touchdown passes and second in passing yardage. He looks in complete command of Mario Cristobal's offense and frequently toys with opponents. That confidence likely stems from the fact that he arrived at Miami with 44 career starts under his belt and is playing a fifth season thanks to the global pandemic.

It's safe to assume that plenty of veterans will be looking for new homes come season's end, but it's hard to identify ones who match the arm talent and elite play-making ability that Ward possesses. Still, schools are going to be scouring for transfer-up candidates, and there are a few Group of Five passers who have flashed at various points this season.

The list starts with USF's Byrum Brown, who had no shortage of suitors last transfer window despite not ever actually entering the portal. He will need to shake off what's been a sluggish start to the season if he's going to command high-dollar value. Others that have caught the eye of the Talent Tracker are Nevada's Brendon Lewis, FIU's Keyone Jenkins, and Tulane's Darian Mensah. Are any of them Ward? No, but they all have starting experience and some tools.

Are you paying attention to RJ Harvey?

No team is averaging more yards on the ground this season than UCF. That doesn't bode well for Colorado's rush defense, which travels to Orlando for Saturday's tilt ranked 83rd nationally.

The Knights have a stable of running backs, but the bell cow is former Virginia quarterback RJ Harvey. Yes, quarterback. A product of nearby Edgewater High, plenty of schools offered Harvey a scholarship during the recruiting process, but the Cavaliers and Georgia Tech (which was still running the triple option at the time) were the only ones open to the idea of him playing quarterback.

Harvey signed and redshirted at UVA but quickly returned home, where he walked on at UCF and made the transition to running back for Josh Heupel. After dealing with an ACL injury in 2021 and working behind senior Isaiah Bowser in 2022, Harvey exploded for 1,416 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in 2023. He's already popped off for 448 yards and a staggering eight scores in 2024. 

Two things stand out about Harvey's story. The first is that his achievements would have been hard to predict. For a kid that was dead set on playing quarterback in college, he never measured taller than 5-foot-8. However, he did test in the upper percentile the spring before his 12th-grade year, with a laser-timed 4.41-second effort in the 40-yard dash to accompany a 38.6-inch vertical jump.

The second takeaway is that Heupel has a keen eye for running backs. One of the biggest priorities for the now-Tennessee coach when he first replaced Scott Frost at UCF was signing Harvey. He didn't get him right away, but the vision was always there. Much like it was with the Vols' current No. 2 rusher, DeSean Bishop, who Heupel -- like Harvey -- got initially as a walk-on.

Sneaky-Good Commit of the Week

2026 QB Michael Mitchell Jr. to Vanderbilt
New Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia isn't fun to play against. Just ask the defensive coaches at Auburn, Missouri, and Virginia Tech. A crafty athlete who's proven to be an efficient distributor on the move, Pavila is the perfect fit for Tim Beck's wrinkle-heavy offense, which likes to move the quarterback around and put defenses in compromising positions.

New Commodores commit Michael Mitchell Jr. might never match Pavila's rushing numbers, but he too is the type of signal caller who can create some magic with his quick release and lower-body twitch. The No. 28-ranked quarterback for 247Sports in the 2026 cycle, Mitchell picked Vanderbilt over Cal this past weekend. He's tracking to exit San Francisco's Archbishop Riordan as a rare four-year starter, having already passed for 4,701 yards and 49 touchdowns.

Freak of the Week

TE Mikkel Skinner
A major rankings riser for 247Sports back during the summer months, Mikkel Skinner's stock continues to rise. After backing off a verbal commitment to Cincinnati a few weeks ago, the Palmetto State-based tight end has taken unofficial visits to both South Carolina and Kentucky. Up next is a trip to Tuscaloosa for Alabama's bout with Georgia.

Skinner is a three-sport athlete at Greer High who has gone 4.59 seconds on the lasers in the 40-yard dash. That's one of the fastest verified times for any 2025 prospect north of 220 pounds. Skinner projects as a new-age F tight end who can line up in the slot, in the backfield, or out wide and stretch the field with his second gear. Think Isaiah Likely.