Wisconsin football lands Oklahoma transfer WR Zion Kearney
Wisconsin has added a transfer portal commitment from former Oklahoma wide receiver Zion Kearney.
The Wisconsin football program continued to reshape its wide receiver room through the transfer portal by adding an SEC product to the mix.
Former Oklahoma wide receiver Zion Kearney has committed to the Badgers after taking an official visit, giving Wisconsin another former blue-chip prospect to work with as it rebuilds a position group that has undergone significant turnover this offseason. Kearney arrives with two years of eligibility remaining.
Standing at 6-foot-1, 207 pounds, Kearney hails from Fresno (TX.), where he starred at Hightower High School. Coming out of high school, Kearney was a composite four-star recruit in the 2024 class and ranked among the top 100 prospects nationally, holding more than 30 scholarship offers from Power Five programs such as Oklahoma, LSU, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Nebraska, and Missouri. Oklahoma won that recruitment, betting on his physical profile and long-term upside.
But the production hasn’t matched the recruiting hype yet.
As a true freshman in 2024, Kearney appeared in 11 games for the Sooners, playing 247 offensive snaps and finishing with eight receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown. According to Pro Football Focus, Kearney posted a 60.7 overall offensive grade, including a 58.9 mark as a pass catcher and an impressive 72.5 grade as a run blocker — a notable data point given how Wisconsin wants to use receivers in Jeff Grimes’ offense.
His role shrank considerably in 2025.
Kearney appeared in five games as a sophomore, playing just 27 offensive snaps and catching two passes for 31 yards. PFF credited Kearney with a 56.9 overall offensive grade in 2025 and a 60.5 receiving grade in that limited sample. Over his career, Kearney appeared in 15 games, totaling 10 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown across 274 total offensive snaps.
That lack of opportunities helps explain the move.
Oklahoma’s staff underwent some major offensive changes, and Kearney found himself recruited over as the Sooners reshuffled their personnel. Rather than waiting for another reset, he entered the portal looking for a situation where development, opportunity, and fit aligned more clearly.
That’s where Wisconsin comes in.
Kearney becomes the fourth wide receiver Wisconsin has added from the transfer portal this offseason, joining Jaylon Domingeaux (Southeastern Louisiana), Malachi Coleman (Minnesota), and Shamar Rigby (Oklahoma State) to help round out the room. The Badgers also return veterans Chris Brooks Jr. and Tyrell Henry, along with Eugene Hilton Jr., who tested the open market but later withdrew from the transfer portal and opted to stay.
In that ecosystem, Kearney doesn’t need to be a finished product — but with this much turnover, opportunities are very much up for grabs.
Under wide receivers coach Jordan Reid, Wisconsin is clearly betting on a combination of size, blocking ability, and athletic upside — traits that can translate at the Big Ten level. Kearney’s willingness and effectiveness as a run blocker could give him a path to earning snaps, while his pedigree and physical tools suggest there may be more to unlock as a pass catcher.
This is a projection play, but a calculated one.
Wisconsin isn’t bringing Kearney in solely because of what he was coming out of high school. They’re bringing him in because the traits still exist, the room has real opportunity, and the staff believes it can coach development forward rather than waiting on it to happen somewhere else.
The fact that Kearney saw the field in a rotational role under head coach Brent Venables as a true freshman at Oklahoma suggests there’s more than enough there to believe he can come in and compete for snaps right away. For a receiver room that needed an influx of talent and upside to promote competition, Kearney fits the offseason theme perfectly: stack skill sets, define roles, and let performance decide who earns the work.
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