MIKE LUCAS Senior Writer Related Content • Varsity Magazine

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. — Saeed Khalif had just arrived on campus as the football program's new Director of Player Personnel when he ran into linebackers Vince Biegel and T.J. Watt, who were preparing for the NFL draft.

Biegel and Watt were grabbing something to eat at the Badger Alley Bistro, a convenient dining option for student-athletes tucked in a corner of Camp Randall Stadium just outside the weight room.

"And they saw that I was the new guy," recalled Khalif, who had just been hired from Georgia Tech where he had worked the previous four years in a personnel capacity.

Prior to getting his feet wet in recruiting, he had been an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at a Division II program (Savannah State) and a prep head coach (in Newark, New Jersey).

"I was standing there with a kid (prospect) and Biegel and Watt went right into a recruiting spiel – unrehearsed," Khalif went on. "I called it a recruiting spiel. But they were selling the place and talking about their sentiments for it.

"And that was the first time I met them. That's what made it real and authentic."

The chance meeting served as Khalif's introduction to the UW culture where players are viewed as the program's best recruiters; a point that has resonated with him during every recruiting cycle since.

The latest one culminated on February 3 with the signing of New Jersey tailback Jalen Berger, who elevated the overall recruiting class to No. 25 nationally in the 247 Sports Composite rankings.

It's the highest-ranked class in school history. Or since recruiting sites like Rivals and Scout began flowering and getting a toehold with mass audiences at the turn of the new millennium.

Berger, a four-star from Newark, had a lengthy and impressive list of scholarship offers from Power Five programs. Among his finalists were LSU, Penn State, UCLA and his home-state school, Rutgers.

A strong influence on Berger's decision was Jonathan Taylor, a New Jersey native and one of the most decorated running backs to ever come out of Wisconsin, a list that is also lengthy and impressive.

"Berger is a JT fan through and through," Khalif said. "Jonathan was fantastic with him on campus. I don't know how much they personally stayed in touch outside of it.

"But I do know his affinity towards Jonathan. That's the thing. He wants to be the next JT. (But) he wants to be Jalen Berger. JB3 can see himself walking that path that JT walked."

Berger wore No. 3 at Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) thus the south Jersey baton exchange will revolve around the incoming JB3 and the outgoing JT23, who enjoys selling the Wisconsin brand.

"Without a doubt, the players are our best recruiters," Khalif reaffirmed. "The REALLY good players who want to recruit are REALLY good.

"Jonathan Taylor was one of our best … and there have been a lot of other examples of really good players like Chris Orr or even back to Leon Jacobs that wanted to tell our story to the kids."

• • • •

Real and authentic. It's a good starting point to tell Khalif's story.

"Where it starts is … I have … the kids call it swagger … I like to put the cool in recruiting," said the 53-year-old Khalif, a former first-team All-ACC defensive lineman at Georgia Tech. As a senior (1986), he was a captain, the leading tackler and an honorable mention All-American.

"I've taken what we've considered to be blue-collar, run-of-the-mill, everyday and express it to them as one of the coolest things they're going to experience. I'm elevating it in their minds, packaging it in such a way where it shines as opposed to, 'Here it is.'"

On personalizing the recruiting process, he pointed out, "I can hand you a notebook and it can have great content in it, but if the cover is not attractive to you then you may never open the book. So, I'm trying to make an attractive cover. I'm trying to have an attractive closing.

"I want every piece of that to say something to you and impact you and touch an emotion for you while you're around. I want to be Uncle Saeed and I want it to be difficult for you tell me no.

"That matches our family atmosphere here.

"That matches the whole connection and vibe that we have as a team culture.

"Family don't want to disappoint family."

Although swagger is not a word that often shows up often in the same breath with head coach Paul Chryst, the head of the Badgers family, Khalif begged to differ, "He's got swag in his own way and it's internal. It's in the locker room, it's with his coaches, it's with that interaction."

More specific to his own job assignment, Khalif added, "He (Chryst) understands the value and importance of recruiting but he feels like his best recruiting is taking care of the guys on the team … he doesn't want to do anything for recruiting that doesn't have a good impact on the players here.

"I remember my first year, I had to learn that. I'd go to Coach and say, 'I think this would be cool for recruiting.' And he'd say, 'What about our guys? What do you think it will be like for our guys?' If it's good for the players here, then it's good for recruiting."

Khalif was well-aware of Wisconsin's long-established identity as a developmental program -- which has thumbed its nose at recruiting rankings – especially as an operation that has flourished by taking three-stars, two-stars no-stars and developing them into contributors and stars in many cases.

"That's who we are because that's the way we work, not that we want to take lesser talented kids and make them better; whoever we get, we want to get them better," rationalized Khalif, who proposed, "Let's try to get talented kids and develop them and see where that takes us."

On several layers, he has brought a fresh approach to a conventional Badger theme.

"My style is to get into every (recruiting) battle," he stressed. "Assess whether the kid, first of all, can play. Then, does he fit academically? All I want to know from a coach (the 10 assistants and Chryst) is whether you like him or not. We don't look for what his ratings and stars are.

"We're just trying to determine, 'Do you like him?' Second, "Does he fit us?' And if he fits us then I'm going to ask the question – and I don't care who else has been recruiting him; he can be a nationally recruited kid – my first question is, 'What's your interest in Wisconsin?'

"And based on their response to me, it tells me how hard to continue to drive and build that relationship and tee it up for the coach so when it's time for the coach to get involved in the communication, the interest level had already been gauged."

Expanding on the process, he later said of the prospects, "I keep them alive and warm while our coaches are competing during the season. We have intentional communication where the guys are in a routine communicating. If a parent has a one-off question, I'm usually there for their contact."

NCAA rules prevent Khalif from punching up a recruit on his cell. But he's a Twitter junkie.

"It's starts online, but I'm a face-to-face guy," he said. "I like to touch people. I like to smile at them. I like to see how they respond to me. But I'm also going to touch them where they are – in their hand-held. Some of that turns into a FaceTime. But initially it starts by direct message or text."

To makes things happen in his office, Khalif relies on the support that he receives from his recruiting team, which includes two assistants, Warren Herring, a former UW defensive lineman; and Jensen Gebhardt, a former D-II quarterback. Mackenzie Zanow is the on-campus recruiting coordinator.

"I couldn't have done any of this without the group and the addition of Mackenzie to kind of help steer us as far as our database management is concerned," said Khalif, who's always on the lookout for matches on and off the field. "Warren and Jensen are doing a bang-up job evaluating.

"And then we have the student volunteers. I've got a little task force that is unique to this place. We didn't do that before. We started with some students with really sharp minds and if you teach them and train their eyes on what to see, they bring back some really good, talented kids."

Speaking to Zanow's role – she was a former student volunteer in the recruiting office and a recent UW grad – Khalif said, "What she's freeing me up to do is watch more film. I like that."

There's no task that is too big, or too small, for Khalif.

"One of the things with my role on campus," he said, "I don't sit back and direct people to do it. I'm involved. I'm driving the vehicle. I'm at the hotel checking them in. I'm at all the meals. I'm spending that time with them to get to know them … so you can see what their reactions are."

• • • •

So that's Khalif's story in a nutshell. Last week, he sat in his Camp Randall office next to a dry erase board that featured the mug shots of each player in the 2020 recruiting class. Looking up at the board, he shared some of the stories behind their recruitment.

"A really good story for me was the way Cade McDonald earned his scholarship," he said of the 6-foot-7, 250-pound defensive lineman from Hudson High School. "When he came to camp, we were actually looking at two other kids in-state to consider scholarshiping. But we wanted to see them perform.

"Cade wasn't on our radar and he outperformed everybody in camp at the defensive line position and he was competing against Jack Nelson (a five-star from Stoughton) and Trey Wedig (a four-star from Kettle Moraine); some of the top guys (offensive linemen) that we're happy about.

"He must have taken triple reps of everybody else because we kept lining him up against people and he was in there scrapping. I was not letting him off campus without an offer. I took him upstairs to Coach Chryst, and Coach Chryst wanted to hear from the position coaches.

"What did you think? What did you see? And when he finally got the confirmation from them, the kid was already in the car on the way to Iowa to another camp. When we got agreement that the kid was worth an offer, Coach called and told him, and the kid hung up on him.

"He hung up because he was crying because he got his offer. He called back and committed. That was awesome. He turned around and didn't go to Iowa. He earned it the Wisconsin way. He came in, he grinded and the coaches agreed on him. He was a nice fit. I'm excited about his upside."

Looking back at the board, Khalif brought up Jordan Turner, a linebacker from Michigan.

"Mom is a graduate from here (Wisconsin), but his dad is a Purdue guy," he said. "I think he was a Purdue lean the whole time. But we hit it off with his dad. Just seeing his family and the way they interacted with us on campus brought him in.

"I know it wasn't an easy decision especially when your dad graduated from somewhere else. But for him to make that decision for us over them (the Boilermakers) was a big deal."

Turner, McDonald and Nelson are among the seven mid-year enrollees.

Another is linebacker Nick Herbig from Honolulu, Hawaii.

"He's got grit and a bite to him that I think matches this place," said Khalif, singling out his recruiting coaches, Inoke Breckterfield and Bobby April. "Once he got here on his official visit with his parents, he was very laid back. It helped we had great weather and were able to eat outside in the sun."

That contrasts to Malik Reed's visit in early 2019. "He was here during the polar vortex," Khalif said of the linebacker from Chandler, Arizona – unable to suppress a smile at the thought of what a kid from the desert was thinking. "He was here on our coldest day in history and he made a commitment."

Back to the board, he picked out Cole Dakovich, a tight end from Waukesha Catholic Memorial.

"I don't know where he's going to play but wherever he plays, he's going to be really a good player for us," said Khalif. "He plays basketball and just watching his body from the time he got his scholarship offer and committed to where it is now, it just seems his upside will be over the top.

"I think the steal in the class was Devin Chandler," Khalif said of the wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina. "We weren't taking any more wide receivers. But we really liked his tape, loved his character, and he made a commitment while the coaches were on the road.

"Coach (Ted) Gilmore and Coach (John) Settle came off the road a day each. But it was our players who spent the time with him, and they all loved him, and he made connections with them. And I think ultimately that's what made him decide to be here.

"Cam Large is another one that our players recruited," Khalif said of the tight end from Pomfret, Connecticut. "He ended up making his way here on his own and spent time with Graham (Mertz) and (Hayden) Rucci and Ferg (Jake Ferguson). He fit right in like he had been here forever."

His eyes were drawn to the board again and linebacker Kaden Johnson from St. Paul, Minnesota.

"I always felt that he was ours to lose," he said. "He's an interesting story. He came to our spring game with his sister and mom and we offered. I remember he and his sister in the corner huddled, tearing up, because this was a special offer for him.

"We set the bar high, we said, 'OK, wherever you go, they've got to match this feeling that you have (for Wisconsin).' I wasn't surprised, but I was proud and happy to get him."

Some may have been surprised that Berger landed on Wisconsin's board.

"I really connected to his family," said Khalif. "They played it very tight. He wasn't a big communicator. But you can see his personality through his social media. He was the kind of kid who would do dance contests and challenge other schools or teams through Instagram.

"I know our guys liked him a lot. If I'm not mistaken this would be one that Graham Mertz was really instrumental … staying in touch and communicating and talking about having a future together."

Khalif's board also shines a light on the preferred walk-ons, long a Badger lifeline.

"They're huge," he said, "and it's getting tougher because the state is starting to be recognized more and more for talent. A lot of guys who historically would have been walk-ons are getting scholarship offers and it's forcing us to make earlier and quicker decisions on them."

Khalif believes there's often a misconception associated with walk-ons.

"They are kids that we have identified as really good players," he said. "They may not be better than some of the other ones on the board, but it's not that they are not as good. They set the baseline for the hard work that this program is recognized for … walk-on does not mean less talented."

Summing up all the players on the board, he said, "I'm excited about the whole lot of them …This year's recruiting class is a perfect complement to last year's recruiting class (ranked No. 29 nationally). To the person, they all feel like they will make a difference in competing and winning championships here."

Moreover, he enthused, "All quality kids, not one of them would I say, 'I don't know how he's going to make it in our locker room.' Our locker room decided on a lot of these guys."

Family don't want to disappoint family.