{"id":493567,"date":"2026-02-21T00:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493567\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T00:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:55:08","slug":"wisconsin-badgers-zeroing-in-on-replacement-wr-coach-with-nfl-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493567\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Badgers Zeroing in on Replacement WR Coach With NFL Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"57\">Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Badgers l<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/wisconsin\/football\/wisconsin-badgers-continue-to-see-a-shake-up-with-the-offensive-coaching-staff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ost wide receivers coach Jordan Reid<\/a> to the NFL.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">Now, Luke Fickell is trying to replace him with a different coach from the NFL instead.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5d\">According to John Brice of Football Scoop, Wisconsin is targeting Ari Confesor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballscoop.com\/2026\/02\/20\/sources-wisconsin-targeting-ex-kansas-city-chiefs-jacksonville-assistant-ari-confessor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">to be their new wide receivers coach<\/a> after his most recent stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEWS: Several sources tell <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FootballScoop?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@FootballScoop<\/a> that Wisconsin <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BadgerFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@BadgerFootball<\/a> is targeting former <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chiefs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Chiefs<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jaguars?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Jaguars<\/a> staffer Ari Confessor to be the program&#8217;s next wide receivers coach: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pVddyR7nmX\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/pVddyR7nmX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnDBrice1\/status\/2024961728472084798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">Confesor was one the Jaguars staff this year as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship and stuck around for the full season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">He also previously spent time in the scouting department of the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">Prior to his time in Jacksonville, Confesor was the wide receivers coach at Wake Forest for the 2023 and 2024 season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">There, he coached WR Taylor Morin to become the program&#8217;s all-time leader in receiving yards on his way to All-Conference honors in 2024.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">Confesor also coached at Air Force, Holy Cross and Rhode Island, adding some special teams coaching duties along the way.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">He himself was a two-time FCS All-American wide receiver at Holy Cross, where he is in their Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/wisconsin\/football\/unproven-badgers-wide-receivers-transfer-portal-recruiting-coach-jordan-reid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Unproven Wisconsin Badgers Wide Receivers Are Under Most Pressure To Step Up, With New Faces and a New Coach<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01khypynjcgdq6p6zkt4.jpg\" alt=\"Wisconsin Badgers wide receivers coach Jordan Reid left in February for a job with the Baltimore Ravens\" title=\"Wisconsin Badgers wide receivers coach Jordan Reid left in February for a job with the Baltimore Ravens\" width=\"6648\" height=\"3739\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6b\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin Badgers wide receivers coach Jordan Reid left in February for a job with the Baltimore Ravens | Mark Hoffman\/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">He would have big shoes to fill at Wisconsin to replace Jordan Reid, who left to take an assistant role with the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">Reid was an effective recruiter who helped retain multiple wide receivers who initially entered the transfer portal in each of the last two winters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">He guided the Badgers through a tumultuous transfer period that saw a number of receivers graduate or depart, but he added a trio of true freshmen in the 2026 class in addition to four new veterans in the portal.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">The group is already set for Confesor, but if he&#8217;s hired, the pressure will be on to coach up and develop a group with a lot to prove in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/wisconsin\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign Up For the Wisconsin Daily Digest &#8211; OnSI\u2019s Free Wisconsin Badgers Newsletter<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Badgers lost wide receivers coach Jordan Reid to the NFL. Now, Luke Fickell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-493567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}