The Wisconsin Badgers have been racking up commitments in the transfer portal, already up to 20 through the first five days since the window opened on January 2nd.
The Badgers have added at every single
position on the roster outside of special teams, and they’ve looked to double up (or even more) at key areas of need to fortify what will be a very different team in 2026.
Currently, those 20 commits are the fifth-most of any team in the transfer portal, ranking behind only Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, and South Florida.
All four of those teams make sense, as they went through a head coaching change this offseason. Iowa State hired Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers after losing Matt Campbell to Penn State.
Rogers has picked up 30 commitments so far in the transfer portal, dealing with a complete overhaul of his roster as a ton of Iowa State players left with Campbell for Penn State.
Oklahoma State, similarly, has built its team through the transfer portal after hiring Eric Morris from North Texas. Morris has brought most of his top players, including star quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins, and wide receiver Wyatt Young, with him to his new destination. 15 of Oklahoma State’s 26 commitments have come from North Texas.
Penn State, as I just mentioned, hired Matt Campbell from Iowa State and has taken quite a few former Cyclones to State College, including quarterback Rocco Becht, tight end Benjamin Brahmer, wide receiver Chase Sowell, and safety Marcus Neal Jr. They’ve added 19 former Cyclones, which makes up a majority of Penn State’s 24 transfer portal commits.
South Florida hired Brian Hartline from Ohio State, and he’s done a lot of work in the transfer portal as well, landing 22 commits so far.
Then, there’s Wisconsin and its 20 commits, with more likely to come as the Badgers fill out the remainder of their needs before the spring semester starts. Quite the haul for the Badgers so far.
