Luke Fickell has reportedly made the hiring of three assistants from his Cincinnati staff official at Wisconsin.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Fickell has hired the trio of Mike Tressel, Colin Hitschler and Mike Brown to his staff with the Badgers. Thamel also reports that the group is out on the recruiting trail for Wisconsin.

Those coaches filled the roles of DC (Tressel) and co-DC (Hitschler) for the Bearcats under Fickell. Brown was a passing game coordinator and WRs coach for Cincinnati.

It had previously been reported that Fickel was interested in bringing his defensive staff with him to Madison, and according to Thamel, those moves are complete.

The status of long-time Wisconsin DC and former interim head coach Jim Leonhard remains unclear. It was previously reported that Leonhard had decided to remain with the Badgers, but Fickell went on record to say he has left the door open for a return but nothing is currently official.

For now, it is hopefully a good sign the Badgers have some pieces of the coaching staff in place and hitting the recruiting trail for Fickell.