Advertisement
football Edit

Better Know A Badger: Jack Sanborn

Wisconsin's 2018 signing class will be joining the team full-time in June, so BadgerBlitz.com will be checking in with the team's incoming freshmen as they make the jump from being high school prospects to a Wisconsin student-athlete.

Jack Sanborn, a four-star linebacker from Lake Zurich, Ill., spoke with BadgerBlitz.com about how he's feeling now that his career with the Badgers is right around the corner. Our questions and his answers are included below.

Miss an interview? Catch up here:

QB Chase Wolf

Advertisement

I know it's been a couple of months, but how did it feel to officially wrap up your recruitment and sign your letter of intent? Did you do anything to celebrate or was it just a normal day?

Jack Sanborn: I wouldn’t say we did anything different. It just made everything final and finalized my decision. It’s always a big moment in any athlete’s life when you sign that letter, because that’s something that you sort of dream of from when you were younger. I wouldn’t say there was anything special since I was committed for so long, but it kind of just finalized it all.

Are you glad that you committed so early in the process, in the end? Did that kind of take some of the pressure off of you?

Jack Sanborn: It was more stress free than if I hadn’t committed. It all worked out in the end for me.

Were you planning to make your decision early or did it just feel like that was the right time to commit to Wisconsin?

Jack Sanborn: It just felt right. In that moment I felt it in my gut, and then I sort of slept on it and thought about it for another half of a week to a week. And then I just decided, “You know what, that’s where I’m going to be.” There wasn’t any reason to sit around and commit when I knew it was the place for me.

Did many other schools still try and recruit you even after you committed? What was that like?

Jack Sanborn: There were still a lot of schools – all the way up until a little before signing day, even, schools were still asking if I was still committed to the Badgers. They were always asking ‘How solid is your commitment?’ And I would be honest with them, say thank you for the interest but I’m solid. I’m a Badger, I’m going there.

Did other coaches kind of leave you alone after that?

Jack Sanborn: For the most part the coaches respected it. Some schools would ask me a couple of times but they wouldn’t bombard me or anything. For the most part, each school was respectful and I told them that. They respected my loyalty to Wisconsin too. But they’ve been through the process – that’s their job.

Take me back to when you committed - what was it in the end that put the Badgers on top and made you feel like you'd found your new home?

Jack Sanborn: Like I said, I just kind of felt it in my gut. There were always question marks about other schools that I was considering or other school that were reaching out to me and recruiting me, but Wisconsin didn’t have any question marks around it. It was just the perfect fit for me. They have everything there to help me succeed in the future.

Now that it's so close, are you excited to kind of wrap things up in high school and get your college career started?

Jack Sanborn: Yeah, I’m excited. I feel like the time is right for me to go. Back in March I don’t know if I would have felt the same way. I feel like that senior year is so important to have fun with your friends and enjoy your senior football season. But right now I think that the time is right for my next step in life.

Are there any memories from playing high school football that you'll remember even after you move on to college?

Jack Sanborn: For a specific game I would probably say the state championship game, even though we lost. Just being there in that moment with some of my best friends was really just a remarkable experience. Other than that, just getting every moment with the team. It’s hard to understand just how fast it goes. I feel like I was a freshman just a little while ago.

Who is the NFL player you look up to the most right now?

Jack Sanborn: I would say Luke Kuechly from the Carolina Panthers. I think he’s the best in football at playing linebacker. You can tell how smart he is and how well he understands the game and everything surrounds it – it’s just remarkable.

Was there a time where you realized that you had a real chance to play Division 1 football back in high school? Or was that always a goal of yours?

Jack Sanborn: I was always pretty confident in myself, but I didn’t truly believe it until I earned my first offer from Iowa State back when I was a sophomore. After that my mindset just changed completely. Then it was just like, ‘Ok, I’ve really got to get ready for the college game.’ It changed everything I do – that’s when it hit me that I had to get ready for everything.

Have you thought much about what you'd liked to do after college? I'm guessing playing professionally would be a big goal - is that right?

Jack Sanborn: I think for every Division 1 college athlete your goal has got to be that you want to go to the league. Once you get to college, it’s different than high school. You have to work to be the best and want to be the best. Getting to the league has to be a goal for almost everyone. But at the same time football ends for everybody – you’ve got to get a career after that. I’m not 100 percent sure what that is for me right now, but I’m not really sure at this point.

Finally, what kind of goals do you have for yourself this season? What would you like to have accomplished when you look back a year from now?

Jack Sanborn: I’m going to go in there and understand that nothing is going to be given to me, especially with how loaded the linebacker group is going to be this year. But I’m going to go in and give it my all – and if I earn playing time then I earn playing time. But I’m going to go in and give it my best shot and help the team and help myself improve as best as I can.

___________________________________________________

John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.

Advertisement