Big Ten Linebacker Recruits
There were definitely fireworks on the recruiting front for three in-state linebackers on this Independence Day weekend, as a trio of recruits notched Division I football scholarships. Madison Memorial's Jordan Fredrick, Arrowhead's Derek Landisch and Pewaukee's Derek Watt all wrapped up local DI offers, earning this week's Splash of the Week.
Fredrick gave his verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin Tuesday, choosing the Badger program over offers from Iowa and North Dakota State. Named to both the WFCA and Associated Press 1st Team All-State teams, Fredrick recorded 39 solo tackles, 23 assisted tackles and nine interceptions last season and will most likely play Outside Linebacker or Safety in the Cardinal and White.
“What I like about the school is pretty much everything,” Fredrick said of UW. “I've lived in Madison for 17 years so I got an advantage on everyone from seeing UW in a lot of different ways. I know a lot about Wisconsin and love it here. It has one of the greatest academic reputations in the nation, one of the greatest football teams in the nation, and in the greatest city in the nation.”
Following Fredrick to the UW will be Arrowhead's Derek Landisch, who despite missing five games last season from an ankle injury, put on quite a show at the Nike Combine in Chicago with a 119.64 rating. The Badger recruit attended Wisconsin's annual summer camp last Sunday and Monday and was sent to Coach Bret Bielema's office directly after the final practice.
“They were impressed with my performance at camp and felt I was the perfect fit for Wisconsin," Landisch said. "I told Coach Bielema I would like to go home and talk it over and that I would get back to him soon. After talking it over with my family I realized it was the perfect fit. I called him this morning and told him how excited and honored I am to be a Badger.”
Watt, who had already been offered a greyshirt/delayed enrollment scholarship from the University of Wisconsin, had Big Ten rival Northwestern's hat thrown into the ring of collegiate offers last week.
“Coach (Mike) Hankwitz e-mailed me and said that he had some good news for me so I should give him a call,” Watt explained. “I called and he told me that Coach (Pat) Fitzgerald wanted to talk with me even though he was in Florida on vacation. I gave him a call and he said that he wanted to offer me a scholarship. They were excited about me becoming a Wildcat.”
Watt was scheduled to visit Evanston before the holiday weekend and has confirmed with WSN football writer Marlin Lee that he will attend Northwestern for the 2011 season.
Honorable Mention
Milwaukee Sting Girls Volleyball Recruits: Four members of the 17U Milwaukee Sting girls volleyball team verbally committed to colleges for the 2011 fall seasons last week. Palmyra-Eagle's Richelle Ranney will head to Western Michigan, who finished 23-11 and just missed getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I tournament last season. Mukwonago's Taylor Dunklau will attend the University of New Hampshire (13-15 last season), while Whitefish Bay's Frankie Carroll will join Catholic Memorial's Kate Acker at Denver University (16-17)-- both Division I programs. Greenfield's Angie Bailey will head to Tusculum College (18-15), which was selected to its first ever Division II tournament last season.
Marissa Savitch, Homestead: Savitch won the 100m High Hurdles event at the USTFA Outdoor Youth Championships last weekend in Lisle, Ill. by posting a time of 14.04 seconds. Savitch improved upon her Division 1 State 110m hurdles championship time from earlier this spring by knocking off nearly half a second.
The Splash of the Week is sponsored by PlayInTheDells.com. It highlights the player, coach or team that has "made a splash" in the world of high school sports. Coming out of nowhere to do something great, going above and beyond the call of duty, etc. Basically making something big happen and having the ripples of the accomplishment resonate throughout your sport. Please contact us to nominate your hometown heroes today!
Tag(s): News Archive
