How the Wisconsin Badgers's 2026 class are in the Top 25 of the nation after recent 4-star commitments

The University of Wisconsin football program is a Top-40 program by three major recruiting outlets in the 2026 class, but look closer at this one key category, and they're a Top-25 school.

Wisconsin saw four-star receiver Jayden Petit and four-star running back Amari Latimer both announce their commitments late last week. They vaulted the Badgers' up considerably in the national rankings as a result, though there's still work to do for this 2026 recruiting cycle.*

Coach Luke Fickell and his program currently hold at No. 31 in the nation by On3's Industry rankings, No. 36 by Rivals, and No. 37 by 247Sports composite rankings as of Sunday morning.**

There have been misses during this recruiting cycle, and there are needs to be fulfilled in this class (particularly on the defensive side of the ball). But maybe what fans should be looking at right now is the average rating per recruit. It's something that I dove into as a key metric for the 2025 class when I was at BadgerExtra.

Wisconsin has 15 players for the 2026 recruiting cycle, and when looking at 247Sports' lists of commitments for Big Ten schools, 12 conference teams have a greater number of players in their respective classes. Ten of them are currently ranked above the Badgers by that outlet's composite rankings.

And for sure, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan among others continue to reel in highly-ranked recruits. But when picking apart 247Sports' composite rankings, Wisconsin is now No. 23 in the nation in average rating per recruit (87.75) after Latimer and Petit's commitments.

That metric also places the Badgers at. No. 10 in the conference behind the following: Oregon (93.20), Ohio State (92.65), USC (91.89), Michigan (90.77), Penn State (89.46), Maryland (89.12), Washington (88.60), Iowa (88.44) and Illinois (87.86).

Those that are technically above Wisconsin in the overall Big Ten "standings" by 247Sports composite rankings like UCLA (87.54 average recruit rating, 21 commits), Minnesota (87.32, 24), Rutgers (87.29, 21), Michigan State (86.97, 21) and Indiana (19, 87.11) currently have larger classes.

The higher rankings in average recruit ranking, both nationally and in the Big Ten, also check out for On3's and Rivals' current evaluations. Rivals's average star rating per recruit for the Badgers (3.27) places them even higher in the conference at No. 7 and No. 21 in the nation.

On3's Industry rankings has the Badgers' average rating per recruit (not score) at 87.21, which would be No. 9 in the conference and No. 26 in the nation.

Here's a more detailed breakdown of where the Badgers stand in 2026 recruiting rankings as of 10 a.m. Sunday.

*Writer's note No. 1: Recruiting rankings obviously aren't the end all, be all, as there can be many misses with higher-tier talent or diamonds in the rough that blossom down the road. Wisconsin's had examples of both in the last seven recruiting cycles alone.

**Writer's note No. 2: On3's Industry rankings and 247Sports composite rankings are algorithms created by each outlet to compute other outlets' individual evaluations into one score. On3 also has an "average NIL" metric seen when viewing its Industry rankings.

On3/Rivals Industry Rankings

As discussed previously, the acquisition of Rivals by On3 will result in some significant changes this upcoming week. On3 will no longer have its own individual rankings, according to CEO Shannon Terry in a late May post, but it will update its algorithm for its "Industry" ranking.