Incoming freshman quarterback Curt Phillips admittedly didn’t know much about Wisconsin when being recruited by the Badgers. Since he hails from the land of the Volunteers, it’s understandable.

�Obviously, coming from Tennessee, I didn’t know much about Wisconsin or the Big Ten,� Phillips said. �But after I came to a game, it was an amazing atmosphere.�

He wasn’t the only newcomer walking blindly into Camp Randall Stadium.

�I didn’t really know that much about Wisconsin when I was being recruited,� said Jake Current, offensive lineman and native of Troy, Ohio. �The only thing I knew about Wisconsin was [that] it’s cold, there are farms and there’s cheese. Once I got up here and checked it out, I liked it a lot.�

Phillips and Current are two of four football recruits enrolling at UW a semester early, and have already begun practicing with the team. Also joining them are Jake Byrne, a tight end from Arkansas, and Dan Moore, a defensive lineman and transfer from Joliet Junior College.

Phillips is perhaps the Badgers’ most highly-touted recruit of 2008. As the quarterback for Sullivan South High School in Kingsport, Tenn., Phillips was a dual threat, passing for 5,418 yards in his career while also accumulating 3,788 yards on the ground.

�I’m kind of an athletic quarterback, which should hopefully pay off,� Phillips said.

His athleticism certainly paid off in high school, as Phillips also lettered in basketball and track. On the football field, Phillips earned first-team all-state honors his sophomore through senior seasons and was ranked as the No. 10 player in the state by Scout.com.

�Curt’s probably one of our more decorated players,� UW head coach Bret Bielema said at a press conference Wednesday. �He does a tremendous job of throwing the football, as well as running the football. A great student, already in school here � I’m really excited to have him be involved in our spring practices and allow him to have the entire semester to get with [offensive coordinator Paul] Chryst and go over the things that we do offensively.�

With five quarterbacks likely to remain on the roster from last season and Allan Evridge slated to be the starter, playing time might be hard to come by for Phillips in his first year.

That doesn’t seem to bother him.

�I don’t really have any playing time expectations � just to come in and compete,� Phillips said. �That’s all you can ask for, to get a shot to come in at spring practice.�

Current also knows his playing time may be sparse as a freshman, but it hasn’t deterred him from getting to work early.

�If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t,� Current said of the possibility of playing as a freshman. �That’s what’s motivating me right now.�

The freshman from Troy High School � which also produced current Badger Shane Carter � is hoping to get some looks from the coaches at center. As a prep in Ohio, Current was ranked as the 25th best guard in the nation, but said he is willing to make the position switch.

�They’d like to try me out at center, now that the first- and second-string centers graduated,� Current said. �I’ve got a chance to come in and show what I can do.�

�We’ll try him either at the center or guard position,� Bielema said. �When you think about Jake, he was actually named All-State Ohio at all levels. He plays in a smaller school, but was able to earn that level of all schools.�

Enrolling in Madison a semester early will allow the four recruits to take part in 15 spring practices, as well as the spring game. For Phillips and Byrne, the extra time will allow the two to get comfortable with each other and the passing game on the field, and also to form a connection off it.

�You can’t beat that we’re going to throw here and work here early together, just kind of becoming good friends,� Byrne said. �Someone like that coming in is going to be a huge benefit for this program, just a huge impact.�

�I think it’s a huge advantage,� Phillips added. �I get to come in, work out and sit down with coach Chryst and kind of learn the offense a little bit. It can’t hurt.�

Each recruit is different, said Bielema, as far as their motives for choosing Wisconsin. Some come to Madison for the academics, others for the amount of playing time they’re expected to get. No matter what their reasoning, though, Bielema has used the success of the program as a selling point.

�One of the aspects we’ve tried to sell since I’ve been at Wisconsin is [that] for four years, I’ve only lost one game at Camp Randall,� Bielema said. �As a head coach, I’ve never lost a (home) game.�

The stadium atmosphere worked to lure Aaron Henry last year, who passed up scholarships from schools in his home state of Florida. Henry went on to play 12 games in his first season for UW.

�He was a player from the state of Florida and was offered by an in-state school after they won a national championship, and basically had decided that the place he wanted to play was Camp Randall after he saw us beat an opponent,� Bielema said.

Despite the school’s recent winning ways, Bielema acknowledges that Wisconsin doesn’t always have the reputation as a football powerhouse like schools in the SEC.

�We’re not a sexy school,� Bielema said. �We just go about our business.�

Bielema also knows how important the campus visit is for attracting incoming freshmen. He said each recruit is paired with a current player who shows him the ropes and � hopefully � convinces him to choose Wisconsin.

�Those 48 hours when they’re on campus make all the difference in the world,� Bielema said. �I say it all the time � it’s the people inside that make a difference. Everybody’s got a nice complex, but it’s the people that make a difference.�

That was certainly true for Phillips, who said a visit to Camp Randall sealed the tough decision for him to become a Badger. With his girlfriend going to Tennessee and his dad a UT alum, Phillips decided to head north, where the winters are a bit colder than his hometown of Kingsport.

�Obviously the weather [is] a little bit colder than in Tennessee,� Phillips said. �I’ve enjoyed it.�

Bielema seems to have enjoyed his recruiting class as well.

�That’s kind of the thing that jumps out during this whole recruiting process,� Bielema said. �Kids come and have a certain thought of what’s going to be in place, and then they see it’s probably even better than what they expected.�