The Wisconsin Badgers have never been amongst the top schools in the country recruiting wise and rarely see any of the big-name recruits go their way. Competing in a conference like the Big Ten- where it can be hard to recruit against the likes of Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan- every year the Badgers still find themselves on top of the conference with the league’s best teams.

While the Badgers may not recruit better than some of the bigger names in college football, they may recruit smarter than most, utilizing an unusual and unexpected pipeline as one of their main catalysts.

The state of New Jersey seems like a place midwestern schools and programs might not even look, yet for the Badgers they have experienced great success with that state- especially at the running back position.

One of the Badgers’ greatest players ever to play in Madison was running back Ron Dayne. Out of Overbrook High School in New Jersey, Dayne held the NCAA’s all-time rushing record for quite some time, securing 7,125 yards during his time at Wisconsin. His record was eventually broken by San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey in 2016. Many fans still see Dayne as the true record holder due to the fact that his bowl games were not included into the overall total back when he played, while Pumphreys’ stats in the postseason were.

Dayne left the Wisconsin program following the 1999 season and two years later, the Badgers welcomed in another New Jersey running back, this time Anthony Davis out of Plainfield. Davis left the Badgers’ program with over 4,600 rushing yards and now holds the fourth spot in Wisconsin’s record books for all-time rushers, meaning two of the top four running backs sitting in the Badgers’ record books came out of New Jersey.

Continuing the trend, others from the state have also seen great success not only at Wisconsin, but the NFL as well. Tight end Garrett Graham (Brick Township) ranks in the top ten in Wisconsin history in receptions and saw some professional time with the Houston Texans, while other New Jersey natives Tanner McEvoy (Ridgewood) and Jonathan Casillas (Jersey City) are enjoying a roster spot with the Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants, respectively.

Fast forwarding to present day, the Badgers just endured losing a solid piece of their program the last few years in running back Corey Clement, who is now enjoying playing time with the Philadelphia Eagles. Clement, out of Glassboro, ranks ninth in rushing touchdowns in Wisconsin history and was a critical part to the team’s success over the past four seasons.

With Clement gone now, the Badgers entered 2017 looking to fill the void with another solid running back and they seemed to have found one. Unsurprisingly, he is from New Jersey.

Freshman running back Jonathan Taylor out of Salem, NJ has overtaken the starting role from Bradrick Shaw and Chris James and has been on a tear so far in his young career. The former New Jersey state champion has already been named to Big Ten Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors and has rushed for 518 yards and seven touchdowns through four games on an average of 7.2 yards per carry.

#Badgers TB Jonathan Taylor has six rushing TDs in his fourth career outing. Ron Dayne didn't get there until his eighth game in 1996. — Andy Baggot (@AndyBaggot) September 30, 2017

Taylor is, believe it or not, the only player on the Wisconsin roster from the state of New Jersey and surprisingly there are no commits for 2018 from the state just yet.

It is no secret that the Badgers’ ongoing success in college football has been through smart recruiting instead of attracting the big-named prospects. If Wisconsin wishes to continue this trend, utilizing the state of New Jersey seems to be the right way to do so.

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