Wisconsin Football: Schools targeting Badgers’ commit Graham Mertz

Wisconsin football was able to land big-time quarterback Graham Mertz as part of their 2019 recruiting class. Now they have to hold on to him.

The Wisconsin Badgers are currently in unchartered territory at the top of the college football recruiting rankings. Normally a program that sits average at best in their own conference, head coach Paul Chryst and the rest of the team is making a splash nationally with their 2018 and 2019 classes, specifically the latter.

There were no surprises with the 2018 process, but in the meantime the Badgers’ 2019 class continues to get stronger. According to 247Sports, the Badgers currently possess the third best 2019 class in the entire nation. The group is comprised of eight total prospects, including two four-star athletes.

The number of four-star athletes used to be one less, despite a commitment from Blue Valley North quarterback Graham Mertz, out of Mission, Kansas. Mertz verbally committed to the Badgers back in October via his Twitter. The interesting part of the commitment was that Mertz was not ranked by any national outlet and was more of an under-the-radar move by Chryst and the Badgers.

Today, Mertz is rated a four-star quarterback by 247Sports and has a top 500 national rank, including second overall in the state of Kansas. What was once a forgotten prospect now has offers from Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, and more. The list goes on and on. The full list of Mertz’ interests and offers can be found here.

Still, despite no prior connections or ties to Madison, Wisconsin and the Badgers- Mertz remains committed. Of course, recruits flip all the time and can come without warning- so the fact that all these blue-blood level teams are after Mertz has to have Coach Chryst and his staff a little concerned. At the same time, it can be seen as a great thing to have such a high-level player wanted by others currently committed.

As of now, the main advantage the Badgers hold is that they saw something in Mertz when no one did and very well may be the reason his exposure is increasing so substantially. When a top ten team takes a chance to offer an unranked player, that has to hold some value to the prospect’s decision-making process and right now Mertz is under the mantra that the Badgers took a chance on him when no one else did.

“He’s fully committed to Wisconsin,” Mertz’ father Ron told Land of 10 back in January. “It’s flattering to see all the other attention. There’s definitely kind of a sense that Wisconsin was here first, it feels right in my gut and that’s where he’s going to be. But any 17-year-old kid has to find some satisfaction in the attention of others. I’m sure he’s enjoyed that. I try to keep him grounded.

Next: Way-too-early college football top 25 rankings for 2018

It is a long time until the 2019 National Signing Period so Wisconsin and their fans will need to hope that Mertz’ father is in fact telling 100 percent facts, but as of right now- Mertz remains a Badger.