6/17/2018 football Edit

Updated: Gio Paez commits to Wisconsin after official visit

Jon McNamara • BadgerBlitz

Editor

Jon McNamara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has covered UW athletics since 2002 and has worked at Rivals.com since 2006.

UPDATE (6:00 PM): Just minutes after he talked to BadgerBlitz.com about his official visit to Wisconsin, Gio Paez announced his commitment to the Badgers.

Paez is commitment No. 11 for UW in the 2019 class and the second projected defensive lineman, along with Keeanu Benton. He chose UW over Kentucky, N.C. State and Louisville, among others.

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(5:30 PM) After an official visit to Wisconsin this weekend, Gio Paez is honing in on three schools with a decision expected by the end of the month, if not sooner.

"I’d like to decide before the end of the month, maybe even sooner," Paez told BadgerBlitz.com. "It’s basically between Wisconsin, N.C. State and Kentucky."

Paez, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound senior-to-be, was one of eight official visitors this weekend for the Badgers.

"I had some flights get delayed so I got up to Madison on Friday night," Paez said. "I went out that night with Madison Cone and Jonathan Taylor, who were my hosts this weekend. They showed me around the campus and around State Street.

"On Saturday we had breakfast and got to see the academic side of things and did a little photo thing at Camp Randall. And then later on that day we went around on the lake in Madison and ate at Coach (Paul) Chryst’s house and everyone was having a good time. This morning we had breakfast and caught up with the position coaches before getting on the plane. It was a great experience."

A three-star prospect from Hough High School in North Carolina, Paez, who had 53 total tackles, 16 tackles for loss and nine sacks last fall, was able to spend time with position coach Inoke Brecktefield during his visit.

"Coach Nokes put together a little presentation of how he sees me playing as an end in their 3-4 defense," Paez said. "He actually took some of my film and put that in a presentation, which was really cool. They want to me commit and Wisconsin is definitely high on my list of schools right now.

"Just how genuine the coaches were really stood out to me. Coach Chryst has a big, beautiful house but he still lives really humbly. That stood out to me."

So where do the Badgers stand with a decision on the horizon?

"They're up there," Paez said. "I had a great visit with some great people. Now I have a decision to make."

UW currently has 10 commitments in the 2019 class.