The Badgers got some crushing news on Wednesday.
The Wisconsin Badgers got some crushing news on Wednesday, as starting cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean’s injunction that would’ve allowed him to play in 2025 was overturned on appeal.
Fourqurean had been fighting to receive another year of eligibility, arguing that his D-II seasons do not count against his D-I eligibility. He was initially granted an injunction, which would’ve permitted him to play this year. However, the NCAA filed an appeal and won a 2-1 decision that denied Fourqurean’s waiver for another year of eligibility.
The news comes as a big blow for Wisconsin, which was operating with the belief that Fourqurean would be their starting cornerback on the boundary side in 2025. Now, it will be interesting to see how the Badgers go from here, as the NCAA is looking to win the appeals of the cases they initially lost.
The NCAA had 23 injunctions in eligibility cases. They had initially won 20 of them, with Fourqurean’s being one of the three they had lost. Now, they’ve won that one as well on appeal.
Looking at Wisconsin’s cornerback room, Ricardo Hallman is a clear starter at the field position on the outside. But, the Badgers don’t have many candidates for the boundary spot.
Their biggest loss this offseason was that of former four-star Xavier Lucas, who was a clear-cut candidate to take the boundary starting job in 2025. However, his transfer and the subsequent legal issues that came with that have taken away that option.
Now, Wisconsin has to look at other options. They added Miami transfer D’Yoni Hill and Jacksonville State transfer Geimere Latimer in the offseason. However, Hill, standing 6’0, 180 pounds, seems to be a better fit at the field spot, where he can back up Hallman, given his smaller stature.
Latimer, on the other hand, is a bigger cornerback at 5’10, 191 pounds, but his frame makes him an ideal fit at nickel, where he earned a large portion of the first-team reps in the spring.
Wisconsin could shift Hill to the boundary and have 2024 four-star Omillio Agard slide in as the backup at the field spot behind Hallman. Agard saw a good number of reps there in the spring.
But, they don’t have much depth either behind the top four. The only other options are freshmen Jahmare Washington, who projects to the boundary, Cairo Skanes, and Jaimier Scott.
A dark horse option would be to move Latimer to the outside and bump Austin Brown back to the nickel. But, Wisconsin would be taking away two players at their most natural positions, so there’s a lot to consider.
Regardless, it’s safe to say the Badgers have a few more problems than they did before with Fourqurean’s eligibility waiver denied.