How a 100-meter race raised the stock of 2025 Wisconsin football recruit Luke Emmerich

MADISON – For a kid dreaming of playing college football, the past couple of weeks were crazy for Luke Emmerich.

Before the 6-foot-1, 195-pound safety from Monticello, Minnesota, a suburb about 40 minutes northwest of Minneapolis, committed to Wisconsin last week, 11 Division I programs offered him a scholarship in a 10-day span.

And these weren’t just any programs. The list included USC and Nebraska as well as Minnesota.

His recruitment skyrocketed in less than two weeks.

“It took off fast,” he said.

The jumping point? A video Emmerich posted on X that showed him running the 100-meter dash in a school-record 10.69 seconds.

The race was a landmark moment in his comeback from a left anterior cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him his entire junior season. It was proof that he was back and even faster than before.

The moment also showed the key role social media can play in recruiting.

Emmerich posted the video at 7:37 p.m. By 8 o’clock he’d started to reap the benefits.

“It was 20 minutes after he put it out there that Iowa State offered,” Monticello coach Andy Pierskalla said. “Everyone was aware of him, but everyone knew he was coming off injuries and wanted to see him move.”

Wisconsin issued its offer the next day to further cement a bond Emmerich started to build with the program before it even contacted him.

He is the 10^th known commitment for the Badgers' 2025 class and the third projected safety. Remington Moss, a 6-1, 178-pound player from Virginia, and Grant Dean, a 6-0, 180-pounder from Neenah High School, are the others.

For what it’s worth, Emmerich announced his commitment to UW four days after the Gophers threw their hat in the ring.

“I wanted to be a Badger more than they wanted me to be a Badger,” he said. “I’ve been bleeding red for a long time and that’s a lot coming from a Minnesota dude.”

Emmerich spoke to the Journal Sentinel about his return from injury, his versatility and the origins of his desire to attend Wisconsin..

Six Big Ten programs offered Emmerich a scholarship

Emmerich announced 15 Division I offers. In addition to the aforementioned teams, these programs also offered: Kansas State, Utah, Cal, Boston College, Michigan State, Washington State, Iowa State, Washington, Army, Air Force and Illinois State.

Rivals and 247sports rate him as a three-star prospect. On3 and ESPN have not rated him, but that isn’t surprising given Emmerich didn’t just miss his entire junior season but also the camps season that preceded it.

That injury, which he suffered last June, left him as a wait-and-see prospect in the eyes of most programs. A promising start to his prep career had him on teams' radar, but so did the videos of his workouts he sent to programs to keep them updated on his recovery.

“He had the ACL injury so a lot of the questions have been about his change of direction, movement, flipping his hips, how fluid is he, what does he look like,” Pierskalla said.

Emmerich considers the injury a blessing as he says he has come out of it stronger and faster than he was previously.

His football foundation was already solid. In his freshman season he started at receiver before taking over at quarterback after the starter suffered a season-ending injury. He remained the starting quarterback as a sophomore while also playing safety.

This past season forced Emmerich to experience the game from a different perspective.

“I was at every single practice, every event, every game,” he said. “Even during the games, I always had a headset on, so I was talking to all the coaches, calling some plays once in a while. I was super engaged. It was fun to see my teammates succeed.”

Emmerich feels he can play anything but O-line and D-line

UW defensive coordinator Mike Tressel and safeties coach Alex Grinch were the coaches who recruited Emmerich, but his passion for UW began before either man was part of the Badgers' staff.

For Emmerich it started during the 2023 season when he attended the Badgers' season opener against Illinois State with his family.

“We bought tickets and drove down for a weekend,” he recalled. “I said to my dad during the game that either I want to play football here or I want to be a student here.

“I knew I wanted to go to Wisconsin and fell in love with Camp Randall and the atmosphere at Camp Randall and when I got the opportunity to play there it was a no-brainer for me.”

Since then he made an unofficial visit to campus last season for the Rutgers game. He also attended a spring practice April 13 that included an extended chat with Tressel and Grinch.

“A lot of programs you go to they try to sell you on their program. We just talked like normal human beings, not like they were trying to convince me to come to Madison,” Emmerich said. “Madison really speaks for itself and those dudes know what they’re doing.”

Emmerich said UW envisions him as a player who can fill the “Dollar” safety role currently manned by senior Hunter Wohler. Emmerich feels the versatility that position allows fits his skillset, but really he feels he can play almost anywhere.

“I told Coach (Luke) Fickell when I committed (that) I’ll play anywhere for you,” Emmerich said. “I can do anything beside the O-line and D-line and I really do believe that. I feel the athleticism and versatility and experience I have in high school will really benefit the Badgers in a big way that not everybody sees.”

Emmerich is an athlete for all seasons

Emmerich, who played varsity basketball as a freshman and sophomore and was a state track qualifier as a freshman, proved he has the speed to be a high-level college recruit. The next big step will come in August when he returns to game action for the first time in almost two years.

Where will he play? The better question is where won’t he.

In addition to his roles on offense and defense as a sophomore, he also punts and is a return man.

As a sophomore he made 13 tackles and intercepted one pass. On offensive he was dual threat QB who completed 37 of 85 passes for 513 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading the team with 356 yards in 66 carries, a 5.4-yard average.

“As a junior we were looking to get the ball to him in more ways than just quarterback,” Pierskalla said. “Can he play some receiver. Can he take some handoffs in the backfield. What does that look like. That was what would have been his junior year and of course senior year I think we’ll try to incorporate some of that as well.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A closer look at Wisconsin football 2025 recruit Luke Emmerich