Film room: Did Wisconsin football nab two offensive starters from Oklahoma State?
Breaking down the All-22 film of Wisconsin's two offensive transfers from Stillwater, WR Shamar Rigby and OL Austin Kawecki.
With a sprawling transfer portal class of more than 30 signees, it should be no surprise that Wisconsin football managed to lure three former Oklahoma State players to Madison.
Why Oklahoma State specifically? The Cowboys’ roster was completely gutted following a 1-11 season — their worst since 1991 — that saw head coach of 20 years Mike Gundy get shown the door on Sept. 23 after a home loss to Tulsa. According to On3.com’s transfer portal rankings, Oklahoma State saw a whopping 64 players depart its program, easily the most in the nation.
The Badgers signed three former Cowboys: wide receiver Shamar Rigby, center Austin Kawecki, and cornerback Eric Fletcher.
Naturally, BadgerNotes.com dove into the All-22 tape to study the offensive signees from Stillwater. Overall, it wasn’t pretty (hence the 1-11 season), but after studying Rigby and Kawecki, I have a feeling Wisconsin may have found some diamonds in the rough.
We’ll break down the cornerback Fletcher’s game at a later date here at BadgerNotes, but for now, here’s my film analysis of Rigby and Kawecki, and why I think both have a great shot to start for the Badgers next Fall:
WR Shamar Rigby
Rigby, a Florida native in the 2024 recruiting class, signed with Purdue out of high school after fielding a healthy two dozen-plus offers. He cracked the Boilermakers’ receiver rotation as a true freshman, but was a limited member of a putrid offense and finished his first year of college ball with 11 catches for 113 yards.
In 2025, he transferred to Oklahoma State, where he also immediately earned a starting role and caught 25 passes for 351 yards and a score. Before even popping on the tape, you love that he asserted himself early at both of his prior programs, quickly convincing the offensive staff that he needs to be on the field. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s already totaled 794 snaps in his career.
Turn on the film, and you can see why. Though Rigby’s production isn’t eye-popping, it’s clear that he’s Power Four starter material, and if he weren’t stuck on two horrendous offenses, he’d likely have been a much bigger deal in this portal cycle.
The first thing that jumps out about Rigby (#7) is his hands. If the ball was catchable, he probably caught it.
The Cowboys’ quarterback play in 2025 was rough, to say the least. Presumed starter Hauss Hejny was lost for the season with a foot injury in Week 1, and the primary replacement, Zane Flores, left plenty to be desired, completing under 60% of his passes for 1,490 yards, three touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
The above throw to Rigby is woefully behind him, but he makes a really nice adjustment and catch here, contorting his body mid-air to bail his quarterback out.
Though the receiver’s reception percentage is low (just 60% in 2025), it can absolutely be chalked up to poor quarterback play. On 58 career targets, Rigby has just one career drop, and it came as a true freshman.
In a lethargic Cowboys’ offense, the opportunities to make spectacular catches were few and far between. But another skill he flashed regularly? A knack for getting open.
I love how he simply makes himself available for his quarterback here. Kansas State simulates pressure but only brings four. Still, there’s penetration into the backfield, and Flores is forced to scramble. Rigby, meanwhile, is running a crossing route against zone coverage, which is generally unadvisable. However, he senses his quarterback is in trouble and sits down in a soft spot in the zone.
Rigby isn’t the twitchiest pass-catcher you’ll ever watch. The 6-foot-3 pass-catcher doesn’t have the lightning-fast release of a dynamic slot receiver; his ability to get open isn’t necessarily about his ability to separate. Rather — like in the above example — it’s about his football IQ and knack for being in the right place at the right time, often by working back to the football:
Rigby runs a simple go route here, but, realizing his quarterback is in trouble, he fights through contact and works his way back to the ball. He gets open along the sideline just in time for Flores to find him, and the result is a nice gain.
The Cowboys didn’t scheme a lot of players open in 2025; the following is likely the easiest big play Rigby made all year:
He’s the slot receiver at the top of your screen, and the Cowboys run a switch concept. This looks like busted coverage for Kansas State; it appears not to have been fully set when the ball was snapped. That allows Rigby to work into the open space easily and look for yards after the catch.
The above play is largely an outlier, as more often than not, if Rigby wanted to get open, he had to do it himself. And while I mentioned he’s not the twitchiest — he gets open more due to his feel for space — he can still shake a corner at the top of a route:
This is something I don’t understand why Oklahoma State didn’t do more of: isolate Rigby one-on-one and let him get open. This is just a simple curl/comeback route, and Rigby has at least five yards of green grass between him and the cornerback by the time he catches the ball.
Now, even though he played for the 114th-ranked passing offense, Rigby still found a way to generate some explosive plays:
