You watch ESPN roll out their top 100 newcomesr list and I scroll through looking for Wisconsin names and I see maybe one or two kids who will actually be in Madison for more than a semester. This whole thing reminds me of when Barry Alvarez took over in 1990 and built something from nothing. He didnt have a top 100 list. He had a bunch of walk ons from Wisconsin high schools and a vision. He took kids like Joe Panos and Mike Verstegen who grew up dreaming of Camp Randall and turned them into Rose Bowl champions. Now we are chasing these transfer portal mercenaries who will bolt the second some SEC school offers them a few extra thousand dollars.
I look at what Coach Fickell is trying to do and I respect the effort. But you cannot build a program on the foundation of kids who have already left two other schools. The 1993 team that went to the Rose Bowl had guys who sat through the 1-10 season in 1990 and the 5-6 seasons after that. They earned their stripes. They bled for this program. These new kids show up for spring practice and if they arent starting by Week 3 they are already on the phone with their handlers looking for the next bag.
The thing that really gets me is how we used to develop offensive linemen. That was our identity. We had a pipeline of farm strong kids from Wisconsin who would spend three years in the weight room before they ever saw the field. Now we are trying to plug in transfers from the portal who have no idea what it means to pull for the Badgers. You watch the 1999 team with Dayne running behind Chris McIntosh and Ben Johnson and tell me that wasnt real football. Those kids committed to Wisconsin when we were still trying to prove ourselves. They didnt need NIL deals. They needed a chance to prove they belonged.