After the announcement of this year’s recruiting class, Wisconsin once again finds itself overlooked.

Head coach Bret Bielema listed off the top 20 schools for recruiting this year during Wednesday’s press conference, and not surprisingly, UW wasn’t on it.

Over the past three seasons, Wisconsin hasn’t been rated among the top 25 teams in the country during the pre-season, yet every year that’s where they finish. Regarding this year’s recruiting class, Bielema feels no different.

“I have a feeling and idea of where we’ll end up,” Bielema said during Wednesday’s press conference to announce UW’s 2007 recruiting class. “I want our kids to know that when they sign this class, they’re coming to be a part of a program that works — that develops kids when they’re here and comes out with a finished product that we feel is the top 20 in the country year-in and year-out.”

Although the recruiting class of ‘07 wasn’t large by normal standards — only 16 players were signed on scholarship out of a possible 25 spots — Bielema, with a year under his belt, used the extra time to get a head start on next year’s recruiting process.

“One of the benefits to our whole recruiting approach this year, with the smaller class, basically the last two, three weeks of recruiting, I’ve been able to have seven assistants out on the road and do an unbelievable job of recruiting our next year’s class already,” Bielema said. “The last two weeks when I was on the road, it was almost entirely junior recruiting.”

Wide receivers coach Henry Mason, who has been in the system for 13 seasons, says that advanced recruiting is becoming the norm these days, as colleges become more and more competitive.

“You have no chance to get one of the premier guys unless you know who he is right now,” Mason said.

With the departure of safeties Roderick Rogers and Joe Stellmacher, as well as Mark Zalewski at linebacker and All-American left tackle Joe Thomas, the Badgers certainly had some looming gaps to fill, especially in the secondary.

“Overall, I thought that if there’s one area where we need to be strong in this recruiting class, kind of like the offensive line a year ago, was probably the defensive back position,” Bielema said.

While every position’s coach wanted three or four recruits, with just 16 signees, it wasn’t possible. Instead, Bielema focused on replacing the depleted secondary with players who can play both the corner and safety positions.

“I think we signed enough what we call ‘true defensive backs’ that we can address any cornerback need we have in the future and safety need that we may have in the next eight to 10 to 12 months,” defensive line coach Randall McCray said. “Athletically, they’re as explosive to the ball as you can find.”

Still, the decision to sign defensive backs instead of defensive linemen left McCray envious.

“I would have liked to have had more defensive lineman; coach Doeren would liked to have had two more linebackers,” McCray said. “I mean we got a lot of secondary guys now. Coach Cooks can’t be too selfish now; he’s got four guys in the secondary this year.”

Certainly addressing the secondary was among Bielema’s priorities. But this year’s recruiting class is headlined by two other position players and two Wisconsin prodigies: running back John Clay (Racine) and offensive lineman Josh Oglesby (Milwaukee). Clay, who is the No. 2 player in Wisconsin and the No. 4 running back in the country according to Rivals.com, made the coaching staff a little anxious as they waited for his decision. In the end, Bielema says, he stayed true to his roots and made the right decision by coming to Wisconsin.

And both Mason and Bielema believe Clay has the ability to make an immediate impact.

Oglesby, who stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 315 pounds, is the top-rated offensive tackle in the country and No. 10 overall player by Rivals.com.

“Any time you’re 6-foot-5, 280 pounds as a freshman, you’re going to get attention,” Bielema said.

One of the many factors that play into recruiting is making sure the guys from home stay at home. For Wisconsin, that tradition is no different.

“Any player that is at the level or the ability to help us win a championship needs to stay in Wisconsin,” Bielema said. “It’s something I hope we won’t deviate from.”

Acknowledging this season’s success at retaining in-state players, Bielema praised Mason and running backs coach John Settle for their work. Of the 16 recruits on scholarship and 18 overall, seven are from in-state.

Despite UW’s track record at retaining Wisconsinites, Bielema’s staff didn’t limit itself to cheeseheads, emphasizing a focus on Florida and Texas — two hotbeds when it comes to football talent.

Of the 18 commitments, four come from those two states: running back Zach Brown, corner Aaron Henry and defensive lineman Jasper Grimes are from Florida, and defensive back Mario Goins hails from Copperas Cove, Texas.

In trying to recruit players from other states, especially ones with as much football history as Florida and Texas, Mason says developing a relationship with the player and his family is vitally important.

“It’s always a trust factor between a recruiter and recruit and anytime that you can put a parent’s mind at ease that way, you’ve got a better shot at getting him,” Mason said.

In fact, Lee Evans’ mother, who is from the Glenville, Ohio area and has a strong relationship with the parents of recruit wide receiver Kyle Jefferson, helped Mason get Jefferson to go to Wisconsin.

Of course, representing a program that won 12 games the fall before doesn’t hurt, either.

After seeing the struggles of Zach Hampton last fall, another area of concern for the Badgers this year was that of the returnman. With the addition of track-speed athletes like David Gilreath, Henry (CB) and potentially even Jefferson, Nick Toon (WR) or Quincy Landingham (DB), the coaching staff is pleased with the upside it has at the position.

“As a punt returner, kick returner, wide receiver, you can see he has very good speed,” Bielema said of Gilreath during the showing of his highlights. “We like him because when he came into camp he (was) probably one of the most impressive athletes ever since I’ve been coaching to overwhelm you with what he’s been able to physically do.”

Rounding out 2007’s class are defensive linemen Patrick Butrym and Louis Nzegwu, linebackers Blake Sorensen and Kevin Rouse, defensive back Otis Merrill, quarterback James Stallons and walk-ons Cody Rose (QB) and Rob Korslin (TE).

[More at http://badgerherald.com]