Let’s hand out grades for the Badgers 2025 class, looking at a number of key positions.
While many of you are understandably lost in the haze of trying to evaluate an offensive coordinator hire out of left field in Kansas’s Jeff Grimes (despite him being a two-time Broyles Award finalist, in 2020 and 2021), I’m turning back to the second part of my 2025 Wisconsin Badgers recruiting class report card.
Part 1 covering the offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, and tight end can be found here.
In part two, let’s look at the second half of the class, continuing with the defensive backs, wide receivers, quarterbacks, and running backs.
Defensive Backs
This is an area that has seen a ton of attrition since last week, including several 2023 CBs hitting the Portal, so it’s vitally important to restock the position cupboard. The good news is that it’s a big class full of tall, toolsy athletes—the very kind needed to make things hum against good offenses.
Four-star cornerback stallions Jahmare Washington out of Chicago and Jaimier Scott from Ohio are the centerpieces, but the other four all bring size, speed, and ball skills. Grant Dean, Luke Emmerich, and Remington Moss appear to be slated for the safety room, while late addition Cairo Skanes should slot into cornerback.
Adding this class to Fickell’s outstanding 2024 secondary haul portends well for the future, but the Badgers will need at least three portal additions to make the CB room function in 2025.
Preliminary Grade: A-
Wide Receivers
My grade here is going to be low only because of the size of the class, which is down to one after a late de-commitment from four-star Cameron Miller, who flipped to Kentucky. But the quality of the lone recruit is very high.
Four-star Eugene Hilton out of Indiana is a tall, strong, high-upside boundary pass catcher with a great motor. There’s a very good chance that Hilton sees the field in 2025, as the opportunity should be there for him absent a massive portal haul. This would likely have been an A grade had the Badgers held onto Miller.
Preliminary Grade: C (due to small size of the class)
Quarterbacks
Landing four-star Florida dual-threat star Carter Smith at the end of the cycle without an offensive coordinator was an absolute masterclass by Luke Fickell and his staff, there’s no other way to put it.
While some dominoes had to fall to bring the former Michigan commit to Madison, it’s a massive one. His combination of size and athleticism is a big boost to the quarterback room badly in need of it, and he sits as Rivals’ No. 3 dual-threat QB in the 2025 class. Not to be forgotten is Landyn Locke, the former quarterback centerpiece of Phil Longo’s recruiting efforts.
Locke is talented and bigger than his older brother, Braedyn, but an early season knee injury that kept him out for almost every game means that he has a lot to prove. It’s possible he might transfer in the spring, but it made sense for him to sign with the Badgers for now.
Preliminary Grade: A
Running Back
This one is puzzling to me. Even with a loaded running back room (for the time being), not getting at least one guy for this room seems like a big miss.
It’s possible that the transfer portal fills this void, but that uncertainty, and how hard the staff fought to get four-star RB Byron Louis out of Florida (who has already flipped from Florida State to Florida) makes this move, or lack of a move, puzzling.
Preliminary Grade: F
OVERALL 2025 WISCONSIN BADGER RECRUITING CLASS GRADE: A/B (the UW-Madison folks get me).