Wisconsin football recruiting: UW offers another 2023 QB, 4-star JJ Kohl

The Badgers also offered 3-star OT Elijah Paige out of Arizona.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college athletics team, but following it closely as a fan can sometimes be difficult and can often be time consuming. We’ll try and condense all the recruiting news you can use into this bi-weekly (sometimes more) post. It’ll include updates on current commits, including stats from their high school games, as well as news on players the Badgers are still pursuing. Let’s get down to business!

New offers

• 2023 4-star QB JJ Kohl (Ankeny, Iowa) out of Ankeny High School received an offer from Wisconsin this past week. The highly regarded signal caller also has offers from Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Penn State, Pitt and others.

The 6-foot-6 and 225ish pounds QB is rated as a 4-star by Rivals and On3 while 247 has him as a high 3-star. The On3 Consensus ranks him as the No. 374 player and No. 19 QB in the country and has him as the third best player in Iowa. During his junior season, Kohl completed 143-of-237 passes (60.3%) for 2,185 yards, 25 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed for 87 yards and one score, but that is not a huge part of his game.

Kohl has visited Madison twice already, but didn’t receive an offer until now. New offensive coordinator Bobby Engram appears to be the one spearheading this recruitment according to 247 ($). Here is Kohl’s Hudl tape. While he isn’t a “running quarterback,” Kohl can scoot if it comes down to it. He’s got a big arm and it doesn’t look like there are any throws he can’t make.

An interesting fun fact: Kohl’s father, Jamie, is the director of Kohl’s Kicking Professional Camps.

• 2023 3-star OT Elijah Paige (Phoenix) out of Pinnacle High School also received an offer from Wisconsin earlier this week. Paige has over 30 offers, including from Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, BYU, Cal, Cincinnati, Indiana, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington and others. On3 notes that UCLA and USC might be early favorites for Paige.

Paige is 6-foot-6 and weighs around 290 pounds, so he already has Power 5 size for an offensive tackle. The 247 Composite has him rated as the No. 499 player and No. 40 OT in the country and the No. 8 player in Arizona. Here is his Hudl tape from his sophomore season and here are some junior year highlights.

My knowledge of offensive line play is average at best, but I like how Paige looks on tape. He’s athletic and moves well for a guy his size. He finishes blocks and doesn’t get flustered when the defensive line throws stunts at him.