Football recruits: In-state

It's been awhile since I ran down any sort of recruiting news, but Bret Bielema and friends have been assembling the class of 2010. As I write this the most recent recruiting news is highly-rated Whitefish Bay punter Will Hagerup choosing -- gulp -- Michigan over Wisconsin and several other big-name schools. Disappointed, but not devastated since Brad Nortman has two more years of eligibility remaining.

It's not a class for the ages yet, there are no Parade All-Americans or guys ranked in the top 10 at their positions, but it seems like this class is full of solid prospects from places that have been good to us in the past.

Most of the early commits were in-state, so let's look at those guys first.

Bryce Gilbert, DT, Brookfield
An early commit, he was interested in some other Big Ten schools, but his only other offers were from I-AA schools and Indiana, which may as well be a I-AA school.

Jake Irwin, DE, Waunakee
Gotta love the Madison-area kids.

Jeff Lewis, RB, Brookfield
He's got good size, 6-2, 200, but isn't necessarily a power runner.

Marquis Mason, WR, Madison
Great size at 6-5, 215, he's apparently going to try to play basketball at Madison as well. Comparisons to Donald Hayes?

Michael Trotter, DB, Milwaukee
Good-sized safety from Marquette High, his other offers were like a lot of these guys -- I-AA, MAC, and Indiana.

Konrad Zagzebski, DE, Schofield
Probably the best in-state prospect in this class, he originally committed to Minnesota but changed his mind. Glad he did. Is coming off a knee injury.

Dallas Lewallen, OL, Berlin
His high school team is winless, but apparently he's playing well.

On one hand, you could be a cynic and complain that we're taking a lot of kids that have lesser offers and interest. On the other, it is crucial to the identity and success of this program that we continue bringing in the best kids from the state, even if they're not all four-star prospects. Just need to coach 'em up.