Possibly the most on-again/off-again recruitment of the 2022 cycle finally ended today when blue-chip offensive lineman Billy Schrauth announced his commitment to Notre Dame. The tea leaves very strongly suggested that the 6’5″, 300 pound Wisconsinite would commit or had silently committed to Notre Dame all the way back in April – so much so, in fact, that Wisconsin 247 writer Evan Flood put in a “crystal ball” prediction for Schrauth to Notre Dame. A public commitment never happened, though, and buzz began to grow that Schrauth was conflicted about whether to play for the Irish or stay home for the Badgers. In June, Flood flipped his prediction to Wisconsin. In September, Notre Dame 247 stalwart Tom Loy and national analyst/former IrishSportsDaily writer Steve Wiltfong entered predictions for Wisconsin as well. In October, both flipped those predictions to Notre Dame, while Flood maintained right up until yesterday that it would be Wisconsin.

Ohio State was on the fringes of the race, and Schrauth has a host of other offers as well, but this was more or less always a competition only between Notre Dame and Wisconsin. Part of the uncertainty in the reporting came from the fact that Schrauth doesn’t seem to have much appetite for the recruiting circus and didn’t talk directly to any of the various writers who covered his recruitment. Part of it stems from apparent strong and genuine uncertainty on Schrauth’s part about where he wanted to go. The draw for Wisconsin prospects to stay in state is very real, especially for offensive linemen; it’s exceedingly rare to get a lineman Wisconsin wants out of the state. From the 2002 cycle – the farthest back you can go in the 247 database – to the 2021 cycle, there were 12 four-star offensive line prospects from Wisconsin. The Badgers signed 11 of them, with Michigan’s Ben Bredeson the lone exception. There are three such prospects in the 2022 cycle: Schrauth, Joe Brunner, and Carson Hinzman. Wisconsin already landed a commitment from Brunner and is in a tight race with Ohio State for Hinzman.

Schrauth rounds out one of the top offensive line classes in the country; the #171 overall recruit in the 247 Composite joins #128 overall Aamil Wagner, #136 Ty Chan, #153 Joey Tanona, and #505 but high upside Ashton Craig. Following the 2021 class of Blake Fisher, Joe Alt, Rocco Spindler, Caleb Johnson, and Pat Coogan with this group ensures that the offensive line will be in extremely good shape likely through 2025 at least. Good stuff.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9307 rating), #171 overall, #11 IOL, #3 in WI

247Sports — 4 star (92 rating), #204 overall, #9 IOL, #3 in WI

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #124 overall, #3 OG, #3 in WI

ESPN — 4 star (81 rating), #231 overall, #5 OG, #4 in WI

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (92 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Ohio State, Schrauth holds offers from Auburn, Arizona State, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, and Stanford, among others.

Highlights

We mentioned that Schrauth doesn’t find much sport in the recruiting process, right? This is a single game highlight from September. Schrauth doesn’t have a season-long highlight video up on Hudl since his sophomore season, and has a smattering of single-game videos since then. Like we said… This is another single game highlight from this year with some good stuff if you want to see more.

The first thing that jumps out here is that Schrauth moves really, really well for his size, both in short areas and in space. When he pulls he looks very smooth, and when he blocks straight ahead or penetrates from his defensive tackle spot he really fires out. He also wants to bury people – I got a kick out of the one pass play at the end of the second video, where he gets into his pass set and then just chucks the other kid down to the ground. Definitely one way to do it, Billy… I think he plays a little high but shows the bend to get that fixed at the next level. He initiates contact very well and he finishes. I’ve seen some conjecture that he could end up at tackle, and with his athleticism I guess I could see it, but I think his mentality is better suited at guard.

Sort of a tangent to the mentality – I absolutely love that the picture above shows him in a Carhartt hoodie on his official visit. Says all you need to know.

Impact

When Wagner committed we noted that he would need to get bigger before contributing – he has the frame for it so we doubt it will be problem, but he’s 40-50 pounds shy of where he needs to be. Schrauth is already 300 pounds and looks like he’s not carrying much extra weight, so physically he should be in better shape to contribute early. Whether he’ll be needed before his junior year is a tougher call. Fisher, Spindler, and Johnson will have all four years left after this season, Alt will have three years left, and even 2019 signee/2021 starter Andrew Kristofic will have two “normal” years plus the COVID year gimme if he wants them. I would guess that, assuming health elsewhere, Schrauth will be able to work his way into the rotation as a junior or possibly take over as a starter if we get some early declarations. He definitely has the talent – the question is whether talent and experience ahead of him will be out of the way by then.

Welcome to the Irish family, Billy!