The Recruiting Trail : Wisconsin looks to salvage the 2026 class

Your latest snapshot of all the commitment updates, official visits, and key decisions impacting the Wisconsin Badgers.

The 2026 recruiting class for the Wisconsin football teams continues to have its ups and downs. But you have to give the staff some credit; when one recruit decommits or flips to another program, they have an answer.

The wins over Washington and Illinois at home in the past three weeks have certainly helped with the optics of the program and kept some interest in the program high enough to keep the class mostly together.

The reports of an infusion of money for the program could also be paying dividends already, too. Even though nothing is officially reported about money and offers for players, the Badgers have already flipped two players and are making progress on some more potential commitments ahead of Wednesday’s signing day.

Wisconsin loses 4-star WR commit Jayden Petit

When 4-star wide receiver Jayden Petit (Naples, FL) committed to the Badgers last June, it was one of the program’s biggest recruiting victories of the summer. He and running back Amari Latimer headlined the Badgers’ 2026 class.

Petit committed to Wisconsin after building strong relationships with the staff, but after the Badgers struggled mightily offensively, Petit began to rethink his commitment to Wisconsin. Right now, the Badgers are dead last in passing yards per game in the Big Ten, throwing for just 132.3 yards per game, with most of their success coming earlier in the season.

Understandably, you can see why Petit would be concerned with his success in the future.

There have been rumblings for a while that Petit would decommit, and the Oklahoma Sooners were the favorites to land the 6’4” receiver. After weeks of speculation, Petit decommitted from the Badgers on Wednesday and committed to the Sooners the next day.

Wisconsin will need to be aggressive moving forward to replace Petit in the class, as Zion Legree is the lone receiver in the class after the Badgers previously had three in the class before Tayshon Bardo decommitted in October.

Badgers find a replacement on the offensive line

It didn’t take long for offensive line coach AJ Blazek and the Badgers to find a replacement after Ben Novak and Maddox Cochrane recently decommitted. The Badgers hosted 4-star offensive lineman Brady Bekkenhuis (Arlington, MA) last weekend during their game against Illinois.