Wisconsin’s top-ranked high-school football recruit going to Minnesota

Badgers head coach Luke Fickell on the challenge of recruiting

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell on the challenge of recruiting

Provided by Wisconsin Badgers

Gavin Meier, an offensive tackle in the Class of 2026 from Janesville Parker, committed late Wednesday to the University of Minnesota, continuing a trend of in-state players choosing to play at schools other than Wisconsin.

Meier is ranked as the No. 40 offensive tackle in the Class of 2026 overall and the No. 1 player in Wisconsin, according to 247Sports.

It hasn’t been lost on Badgers fans that Wisconsin hasn’t gotten recent commitments from top players inside the state anywhere close to the level of Luke Fickell’s predecessors as UW head coach. Barry Alvarez famously made it a staple of his process that transformed UW into one of the conference’s best programs, building a metaphorical “wall” around the state’s borders.

But there are caveats.

The Badgers have, after all, continued to produce strong recruiting grades with a broader approach. Last year’s UW recruiting class brought in players from 14 states.

In the 2025 class, the Badgers missed out on the state’s top two recruits — Notre Dame Academy tight end James Flanigan and Catholic Memorial offensive lineman Owen Strebig, who both chose Notre Dame. It bears mentioning that Flanigan’s father also played at Notre Dame.

The No. 3 prospect in the state, Tre Poteat of Verona, chose Tennessee. His father, Hank, had been an assistant in the UW program but wasn’t retained under Fickell. UW did bring in five players from Wisconsin for the class.

In 2024, the top three recruits according to 247 all went to Big Ten rivals: Arrowhead offensive lineman Garrett Sexton (Penn State), Mukwonago offensive lineman Nathan Roy (Minnesota) and Catholic Memorial running back Corey Smith (Penn State). Smith finished with 22…

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Publish date : 2025-03-28 15:36:00

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