Wisconsin's hot stretch in the transfer portal continued Tuesday evening with a commitment from former Cincinnati wide receiver Will Pauling.
The redshirt freshman officially entered the transfer portal on Dec. 20 and is fresh off an official visit to Wisconsin this past weekend.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound receiver started two games and appeared in nine contests in 2021. He tallied 12 catches for 122 yards.
Pauling saw the field on 125 offensive snaps with 116 coming in the slot. Of the 78 passing plays he was in for, 71 came from the slot, according to Pro Football Focus. That is exactly where the offensive staff envisions Pauling contributing from.
"Coach (Mike) Brown and Coach (Phil) Longo see me playing in the slot and they’re just really big on needing to get playmakers in space," Pauling told BadgerBlitz.com. "That’s pretty much all I’m doing - getting into space and making plays, so they just want to get guys there, find out what they’re good and let those guys be athletes."
While in the portal, Illinois and Indiana were on Pauling, a Chicagoland native, the most, in addition to UW. He also received interest from a few MAC schools and programs from the Sun Belt conference. "From all over the place, really," Pauling added.
The official visit to Wisconsin was actually the first one Pauling had ever gone on since COVID-19 altered his high school recruiting calendar. On the trip, tight end Cam Large and linebacker Ross Gengler were his hosts.
"It was good," Pauling said. "It was fun going out with the guys on the team, seeing the campus, seeing what campus life is like, so it was good to see what campus life is like."
As a member of the 2021 recruiting class, Pauling held offers from Syracuse, Western Michigan and multiple MAC schools, among others. Cincinnati - with Brown serving as the lead contact - was the first school to offer Pauling a scholarship. Wisconsin reached out a few days after his decision to enter the portal.
"Honestly I’d say Coach Brown is probably the main reason I was on that visit. He was the first guy who ever gave me an offer out of high school," Pauling said. "He’s a really good coach. He’s developed guys. In the last two years, he’s had one guy get drafted and this year, he’ll have two guys get drafted. He also had a few other guys be un-drafted free agents the last few years, so he’s really good at developing."
The idea of reuniting with Brown and working with Longo was one that appealed to the transfer wide receiver.
"I’d say (Longo) was a big reason I was on that visit, too, because when you hear Wisconsin football in the past, they’ve been a lot of just run the ball down your throat type of deal," Pauling said. "But I’ve heard what Coach Longo has done with his offenses in the past and it’s really attractive being a receiver, so I’d say Coach Longo, his style of things is really intriguing."
With Wisconsin adding a third quarterback (Braedyn Locke) via transfer portal Tuesday morning, Pauling said he could feel the buzz and is excited to get on board.
"It’s very exciting," he said. "The quarterback room there is going to be crazy and you know you have a great o-line all the time at Wisconsin. I know they play great defense year in and year out, so it would be very exciting stuff in the coming years in Madison."
The feeling amongst the staff is that a turn around at Wisconsin wouldn't take much time. There is a foundation already in place in Madison.
"All the coaches were saying it’s really a good tradition there, so there really wasn’t much we need to rebuild," Pauling said. "It was just we need to build on what we have because we already have great guys here. They just want to bring some more great guys in and that’s what they’re doing. That was really exciting to hear about."
The second-year player joins what could become a very crowded wide receiver room for Brown. The Badgers return their top five producers at the position in Chimere Dike, Skyler Bell, Keontez Lewis, Dean Engram and Markus Allen.
Along with Pauling, the staff brought in former USC receiver C.J. Williams, former Cincinnati receiver Quincy Burroughs and former Oklahoma State receiver Bryson Green in for a visit last week.
Pauling, who is expected to have three years of eligibility remaining at UW, is one of 11 scholarship transfer portal targets Fickell has landed so far for the Badgers.
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