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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Not long after Paul Chryst became the Wisconsin football coach in 2014, he had an experience unlike any in his 17 years on a college staff.
He visited Chris Orr, a linebacker prospect at DeSoto (Texas) High School, and came face-to-face with perhaps the most elusive piece of the recruiting puzzle.
The It Factor.
Orr has a great background — his father and older brother played in the NFL and another brother is a major-college starter — and had passed muster on the most important characteristics sought by UW coaches.
Smart. Tough. Dependable. Hard-working.
Orr had already committed to the Badgers, driven in part by his desire to break the mold of his family footprint — all Texas-oriented resumes — and make a name for himself under a different spotlight.
Early on in his get-acquainted visit with Orr, Chryst saw The It Factor, that elusive trait that's hard to describe, but you know it when you sense it.
"I go to the school and he's fired up about Wisconsin and he's telling me why," Chryst recalled. "He had a vision of himself and 'Why Wisconsin.' He wanted to be different and be great.
"He took me around his school and I met every teacher. It was unbelievable. I'd never seen a kid do that before, so you knew the kid had something that you were attracted to that had nothing to do with the game of football."
The It Factor.
It helps explain why the charismatic Orr became a starter at inside linebacker as a true freshman in 2015, became a pseudo assistant coach while recovering from season-ending knee surgery as a sophomore and is viewed as a prime leader heading into his third year.
Every prospect that comes to UW — including members of the 29-member Class of 2017 that joined the fold Wednesday — has The It Factor to some degree. Sometimes you see it right away. Sometimes it takes years to bubble to the surface.
New members of the Badgers' defense (L-R) Madison Cone, Izayah Green-May, Andrew Van Ginkel, Faion Hicks
"That's the detail of getting to know the kid and what drives them," Chryst said.
There are times when The It Factor leaps off the page at you, like a glowing, unsolicited recommendation from a high school superintendent.
There are times when The It Factor is so subtle that you have to let your instincts take the wheel, like when he responds to a compliment with humility.
"The old gut feeling," UW tight ends coach Mickey Turner said. "Truly, your subconscious locking in on something that maybe you can't verbalize at the time, but it's enough of a component that fits together with how you see this place running."
Every prospect that signs to play for the Badgers — in this case, 19 scholarship recipients and 10 walk-ons — is vetted for academic proficiency and is judged to be a good fit for the demands at Wisconsin. In most cases, their arrival on campus is the culmination of an 18-month process in which a relationship was formed and trust nurtured between the recruit and UW coaches.
To that end, Chryst was asked what traits he values in his assistants that make them good recruiters.
"Guys who are thorough and detailed and a good listener," he said.
"It's not just throwing on the highlight film, but watching the tape, talking and listening to all the people. A lot of recruiting is gathering information. It's the information that the tape gives you. It's the information that the coach, the principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor and the kid give you. What's important to him?
"It's not just identifying who the good players are. It's identifying who the good players are that can be successful and continue to grow at Wisconsin."
As far as UW coaches are concerned, The It Factor has nothing to do with five-star labels and national recruiting rankings even though those lists and projections have a measure of validity.
Wisconsin is a place where vision, intuition and development are the cornerstones of recruiting. Chris Haering, the UW special teams coach who focuses on recruiting in-state prospects, said it starts with a series of questions.
"Is the kid a worker? Has the kid showed some toughness? Has he showed some athleticism?" he asked rhetorically. "Sometimes at Wisconsin you have to do a little bit more projection of what the kid can be."
That doesn't always translate well to the metrics of recruiting.
One prominent service had the Wisconsin class of 2010 ranked 98th in the country in part because none of its recruits received higher than a three-star rating. Six years later, three of those prospects — nose tackle Beau Allen, offensive tackle Rob Havenstein and tailback James White — are established NFL players.
The same recruiting services had the Class of 2012 ranked 60th in the nation. That's the group that just finished setting the program record for most wins by a senior class with 41.
"It's a validation of this culture and what's been established in this program," UW wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore said.
Haering says it starts at the top with Chryst, who's entering his third season as coach at his alma mater with a 21-6 overall record and two bowl wins.
"You want to make sure they're the best fit not only for us, but for them," Haering said of those in the UW recruiting pool. "We don't want a kid who comes into the program and feels like he can't be the best and has to change who he is in order to fit it.
"It's a model he trusts implicitly."
How does The It Factor come into play?
Tyler Beach, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound offensive tackle out of Port Washington (Wisconsin) High School, was the No. 1 in-state target and the focus of an 18-month recruiting process, according to Haering.
Beach set himself apart with his work ethic and toughness at a UW prospect camp, impressing not only Haering and offensive coordinator/line coach Joe Rudolph, but also defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield.
In the process Haering said Beach impressed his peers with his humble demeanor, a vibe that Badgers players also picked up on.
"That's important," Haering said. "They know what it takes. They're the ones living the culture. They're the ones that help set the standards at this place. Their feedback is imperative."
Haering watched Beach take crunch-time shots for the boys' basketball team and, during a visit to the high school, Haering said "the superintendent came out of his office when I was there and said, '(Beach) is one of finest kids I've ever had.'"
Turner, a former UW tight end, was a primary recruiter for Jonathan Taylor, a 5-11, 215-pound tailback out of Salem (New Jersey) High School. Yes, Taylor runs a documented 10.3-second 100 meters and set a series of state rushing records, but he also wrote a compelling essay for his UW application about avoiding the dangers of the street and knew his history about Corey Clement and Ron Dayne, two New Jersey products who starred at Wisconsin.
"He values our style of football," Turner said.
Safety Scott Nelson, a 6-2, 190-pounder from Detroit (Michigan) Jesuit, is another Turner recruit. A host of other Big Ten Conference schools wooed him, but Nelson was sold during two unofficial visits and the reputation of the UW Business School.
"He's not just fast. He's not just knocking balls out of the air. He did everything for his team," said Turner, who's entering his third season as an assistant at his alma mater. "You compliment him on it and he's extremely humble."
Gilmore, a former NFL assistant entering his third season in Madison, admits he takes an old-school approach to recruiting.
"I tell kids all the time: Let's get out of the recruiting process and let's get to know each other," he said. "In other words, let's talk."
No texts or emails. A minimum of social media.
Gilmore wants to hear your voice, ask you questions and get to know you on a deeper level.
"Once you have that relationship — once you have that comfort level — they'll tell you everything," he said. "There's someone that's driving it for them and the only way to find that out is to get to know them.
"Who's their champion? If you just listen, they'll tell you everything."
An intriguing recruit that Gilmore landed is Cade Green, a 6-foot, 190-pound wide receiver from Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas. Green's abilities might well invoke thoughts of Alex Erickson.
Gilmore said Green's family made three unofficial visits to campus and got very comfortable with the coaching staff, so much so that when Baylor and Texas made a late push for their son, they were turned away.
Gilmore said he expects Green, whose team won the state 6A title, will immediately be one of the toughest competitors in the UW receivers' meeting room.
The evaluation process is the same for each UW recruit.
"If I like a kid, it goes through the cycle, the process," Gilmore said, referring to input from Chryst and Rudolph, the associate head coach. "We couldn't care less who's recruiting you. We trust our evaluation. This staff, we trust that if we like a kid, let's go for it."
Haering said the latest Wisconsin recruiting class is uncommon in at least one sense.
"I think this group is pretty unique in that they're already really close," he said. "They have group chats. They know what everybody's doing all the time. They keep tabs on each other.
"They're coming here with a purpose and it's pretty neat that you see that."
A lot of guys with The It Factor.
History tells us that their bond will only get stronger.
