Jeff Potrykus

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Madison — Ted Gilmore hasn’t seen enough of Wisconsin’s trio of freshman wide receivers yet to guarantee one or all will help UW in 2016.

Yet Gilmore, entering his second season as UW’s wide receivers coach, believes the coaches got exactly what they hoped they would when they signed Quintez Cephus, A.J. Taylor and Kendric Pryor.

“I like all three of those guys and I think we hit the jackpot,” Gilmore said Sunday after practice, UW’s eighth of camp.

How so?

“So many times in recruiting, you think you have an idea of what you see on tape,” Gilmore explained, adding all three are in the running to earn playing time this season. “And then once they get here they’ve got to put it all together.”

Some years the performances of the freshmen fail to meet the expectations developed during the recruiting process.

Not with this trio.

“It’s what we thought it was,” Gilmore said.

Notes: Badgers look for linebacker depth

Cephus and Taylor have been more noticeable than Pryor during the first week of camp, which is somewhat surprising.

The reason: Pryor, 5-foot-11 and 179 pounds, was a standout wide receiver at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Illinois.

Cephus, from Macon, Ga., committed in September of his senior year at Stratford Academy to Furman — to play basketball.

He was a standout shooting guard on the basketball team and a running quarterback on the football team. But a move to split end as a senior allowed Cephus to record 42 receptions for 872 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Taylor, from Kansas City, Mo., was an all-state performer as a senior at Rockhurst High School — as a running back. He rushed for 1,721 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 338 receiving yards and five scores.

Cephus, 6-1 and 195, and Taylor, 5-11 and 194, couple above-average athletic ability with inquisitive minds.

“He pays attention,” Gilmore said of Cephus. “When he is not in there he is watching. He is not afraid to ask questions, which I love about him. He is a very humble kid. … He is very coachable and wants to get better.”

Taylor is so inquisitive he sometimes suffers from over-thinking his responsibility on plays.

“I just tell him: ‘Don’t overanalyze it,’ ” Gilmore said. “I’ve just got to explain it to him. He is a visual guy. He just needs to see it. And once he sees it he’s got it.”

Junior cornerback Derrick Tindal has battled the three freshmen in practice, particularly Cephus and Taylor. During a recent practice, Tindal and Cephus were wrestling at the end of a play and both got up offering differing opinions on who won the matchup.

“Cephus is a very aggressive kid,” Tindal said. “If I wasn’t doing that to him then he should be worried. I see something in him. I like to go against him. I like to rough him up because I see he could be a big-time player.

“You see him out there catching balls with one hand. Most freshmen don’t do that. He makes plays."

How has Cephus responded to the hands-on treatment?

“He responds like a football player,” Tindal said. “He fights back on the field but off the field we’re friends. That’s what I like about him.

“I’m going to be doing it to him all camp. I told him: ‘Welcome to Big Ten football.’ ”

Taylor, according to Tindal, isn’t as talkative or as aggressive on the field as Cephus. Nevertheless, he has made plays in camp.

“A.J. is kind of passive,” Tindal said. “He lets things go but everybody is not built like Quintez.

“A.J. is a great receiver. I love how he runs his routes. I feel like both of them will be good.”

Gilmore doesn't want anyone to ignore Pryor.

“They are flashing,” Gilmore said of the trio. “They are having some moments. And then they have those freshman moments where they turn right when they should have went left.

“But the athleticism is there. The ability is there."