Bielema catches commits by surprise 
December, 4, 2012
12/04/12
7:46
PM ET
By
Jared Shanker | ESPN.com
Sojourn Shelton had just finished walking Charlie Partridge to the front office of Plantation (Fla.) High School on Tuesday and was on his way back to classes. Right after the two went their separate ways, the four-star Shelton and Partridge, a Wisconsin assistant coach, received the news, and Partridge gave Shelton a call.
"We noticed [Partridge's] phone kept lighting up, but he was with me so he didn't pay attention to it," Shelton said Tuesday night. "We walked to the front office, he went his way to his car, and I checked Twitter and someone retweeted something about coach [Bret] Bielema leaving. I was thinking maybe it was a rumor. So I clicked on a couple profiles and saw it was true."
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema is on his way to Arkansas, and no one involved -- recruits, families, coaches -- saw it coming. This was not Urban Meyer to Ohio State. There were no talks of a change for weeks, days or even hours to give everyone involved a sense of inevitably.
"We noticed [Partridge's] phone kept lighting up, but he was with me so he didn't pay attention to it," Shelton said Tuesday night. "We walked to the front office, he went his way to his car, and I checked Twitter and someone retweeted something about coach [Bret] Bielema leaving. I was thinking maybe it was a rumor. So I clicked on a couple profiles and saw it was true."
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema is on his way to Arkansas, and no one involved -- recruits, families, coaches -- saw it coming. This was not Urban Meyer to Ohio State. There were no talks of a change for weeks, days or even hours to give everyone involved a sense of inevitably.
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The Midwest Region consists of the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin and is where the foundation of most Big Ten recruiting classes are made up of. It's also where the MAC finds most of its talent and national programs hunt for prospects.