The Badgers’ early pledges assisted heavily in building the class. They started a group chat on Snapchat to better communicate with one another and form early relationships with fellow commitments and always looked for opportunities to help recruit Wisconsin’s targets who remained undecided.

Although many fans were fearful of Mertz de-committing after receiving a flurry of top offers after his junior year, he and Davis were two of the most active recruiters in the class.

Rucci also did his part after committing in February. By chance, he sat by Engram on the same flight to Wisconsin for a visit earlier this year. The two discovered their fathers played together at Penn State and started a friendship before Engram chose the Badgers in June.

“I can gladly say I talked to every single recruit before they committed besides Leo because he was the first,” Mertz said. “We’ve all got a great relationship. We have a solid group chat going on. … We’re all just sending each other pictures and texting all day — probably a little bit more than we should.”

While the class may ultimately rate more highly than any in Badgers history, it won’t be easy for any incoming freshmen to step directly into a starting role.