Wisconsin Badgers are not satisfied with another Rose Bowl loss. They have bigger ambitions, and the recruiting shows it. Wisconsin landed a major running back recruit with Jalen Berger from New Jersey. At the All-American Game on Saturday, he chose Wisconsin over Rutgers, UCLA, LSU, and Penn State. He is the latest of New Jersey prep running backs to play for the Badgers. Berger can have an immediate impact on next year’s Badgers team. The guy is a complete stud who can do more than just run the football.

Watch these two minutes of highlights and get ready to fall in love. Berger gets to the edge so quickly that he could be very dynamic for a Wisconsin team that started to use more outside runs. Don’t be surprised if Paul Chryst and Joe Rudolph look through Melvin Gordon’s freshman year tape. The four-star talent is also a legitimate wide receiver. He is not just ‘good pass-catching running back’, rather he is lining up on the outside and taking on cornerbacks with wide receiver routes.

With the addition of Berger, Wisconsin has a top 25 recruiting class for next season. It is their best recruiting class in the history of recruiting classes being counted. It speaks to the staff and stability of Paul Chryst’s staff. I think the ability to keep almost everyone year-to-year helps as every staff member knows what Wisconsin is looking for with their talent on both sides of the ball. At some point, Jim Leonhard might look for bigger and better things, but let’s hope Wisconsin still has a few years left with him.

Badgers can still add a few more talents to his already dominant recruiting class. People can say all they want that ‘four stars and five stars don’t matter’ but that’s simply not true. Look at the starting rosters of LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, they’re chalked full of top tier talent. Wisconsin is getting closer and closer to running with the big boys.

Charlie.