I think the problem is that the consensus was based on a bunch of recruiting rankings and not the coaching staff. The coaching staff is obviously going to know who the lineman are in Wisconsin, who they have a chance to get out of State and who they are going to target.
Considering the success we have had with Wisconsin lineman in general, they certainly deserve the benefit of the doubt. Cunningham is a perfect example. We have had great recent success with lineman from Hudson, yet we did not offer Cunningham. They obviously liked others better. Nothing against the kid, it happens all the time. For some reason Eggen and Epping fell into that position as well.
They have offered one offensive lineman from the State and he accepted. He was unknown by the recruiting "experts" but he earned his offer at camp. Eggen was at camp as well and they offered the other guy instead. Will they be right? Who knows. It does not mean Eggen is not a good player, it just means they liked someone better.
The notion that we suddenly decided to offer in State players only if they go to Camp is absurd. The Badgers have been recruiting the same way for years. If the player is an obvious Big Ten Player (Thomas, Oglesby, Beckum, Toon, Clay) to name a few, they get offered before camp. If the staff wants to evaluate them more, they are asked to go to camp. If they don't want to go (Epping) they don't go. If they want to (Lewallan, Irwin, Lewis, Trotter) they go and have a chance to earn an offer. I just don't know why that is such a hard concept to grasp.
As I stated, while there are not the usual 2 or 3 4 star players in the State this year, the class is very deep. That is not only reflected in the number the Badgers have offered (9), but the number that have BCS offers overall. The fun of it is to see who was right down the road. Unfortunately it will be a 3 or 4 year wait to see.