Where do Badgers come from? The Wisconsin football team features players from 23 states, 96 cities and multiple places outside of the continental United States, but the vast majority of the team — nearly 48 percent — comes from the state of Wisconsin.
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That shouldn't surprise anyone, as after Gary Andersen left and Paul Chryst returned to the Badgers as head coach, he made a commitment to keep the best players from Wisconsin in state.
Just check out this quote from Chryst back in 2015:
"It's important to me to recruit players and keep the players at home. And then certainly you supplement … the state of Wisconsin has never and won't provide you all of your roster. You'll go to different areas in getting kids."
Recruit Wisconsin first, then look elsewhere.
It's certainly worked out for the Badgers so far under Chryst. Heading into the Badgers' bye week, Chryst is 21-6 in two-plus seasons at Wisconsin, and the Badgers are already getting help from in-state recruits under Chryst's tenure: redshirt freshman Tyler Biadasz (Amherst, WI) has gotten the starting nod at center, redshirt freshman Cole Van Lanen (Green Bay, WI) has seen playing time on the offensive line, and several other young players are working to earn playing time.
And it's not like Andersen ignored in-state players — the Badgers have significant contributors coming from in state prior to Chryst's tenure: defensive ends Chikwe Obasih and Alec James (Brookfield, WI), offensive lineman Jon Dietzen (Black Creek, WI), wide receiver Jazz Peavy (Kenosha, WI), and injured outside linebacker Jack Cichy (Somerset, WI) are all home-grown talents.
Here's a look at the full map of current Wisconsin Badgers players by hometown:
As you can see, Wisconsin kills it in state, and has done well in the Chicago area to get star players like linebacker T.J. Edwards and tight end Troy Fumagalli.
The Badgers also have pipelines in the New Jersey/Washington D.C. area (running backs Jonathan Taylor and Taiwan Deal and quarterbacks Alex Hornibrook and Jack Coan are all from the east coast) and Florida (defensive backs Derrick Tindal, D'Cota Dixon and Natrell Jamerson, among other payers, are all from Florida).
But far and away, Wisconsin's collective depth comes from in state.
Madison, home of the University of Wisconsin, is the city most-represented on the roster, with six players. Four more players come from Green Bay and Grafton, while Madison neighbor Waunakee has three players on the team. Brookfield, Menomonie, New Berlin, Stoughton and Wausau each have two players staying in state at Wisconsin, while 29 other Wisconsin cities are represented with one player on the team.
In total, 56 players on the 118-person roster are from Wisconsin. Eleven players come from Illinois, 9 from Florida, 5 from Ohio, 4 from Texas and Maryland, 3 each from Arizona and Georgia, and two each from Alabama, California, Michigan and Minnesota.
Outside of Wisconsin, only three U.S. cities have multiple players on the roster — Birmingham, Alabama (RB Bradrick Shaw and OLB Christian Bell), Miami, Florida (CBs Dontye Carriere-Williams and Faion Hicks), and Grand Prairie, Texas (CB Caesar Williams and WR Emmet Perry).
The Badgers also have three players from outside the continental U.S. — OL Micah Kapoi from Kapolei, Hawaii; K Rafael Gaglianone from Sao Paulo, Brazil; and NT Olive Sagapolu from Pago Pago, American Samoa.
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