Over the next two weeks, BadgerBlitz.com will be bringing our readers final snapshots for each recruited position, covering the targets who are legitimate prospects on Wisconsin's board in the 2021 class. We will discuss the candidates who are committed and most interested in the Badgers, as well as those who came off UW's board.
Today, we continue with a look at the outside linebackers.
QUICK BREAKDOWN
Returning starter Noah Burks, who was sixth on the team in tackles (36) and fourth in tackles for loss (7.0) in 2019, has big shoes to fill on the edge this fall. Izayah Green May, Jaylan Franklin, C.J. Goetz and Spencer Lytle are all battling for a spot alongside him with the No. 1 defense. Four-star 2020 signee Nick Herbig enrolled early, and Kaden Johnson, Aaron Witt and Riley Nowakowski joined him this summer. In the 2021 class, the Badgers have commitments from edge prospects Ayo Adebogun, T.J. Bollers and Darryl Peterson, with two other high-priority targets still on their board.
CLASS OFÂ 2021 OLBÂ NEEDS: 4 |Â CLASS OFÂ 2021 OLBÂ COMMITS: 3
A WFCA all-state selection this past fall, Ayo Adebogun, who had 75 total tackles, including 17 sacks as a junior, committed to Wisconsin in December. He is expected to play outside linebacker for the Badgers.
"Ayo is an incredibly gifted athlete," Homestead defensive coordinator Matt Wolf told BadgerBlitz.com. "He's twitchy with high-end speed and he uses his hands very effectively in comparison with other athletes. His ball get-off is really second to none. Ayo was blocked last year by another Division 1 kid, Jake Raddatz, who was a three-year starter for us at strong-side defensive end. So with Ayo, it wasn't that he wasn't ready last year, we just had some good kids ahead of him on a team that won a state championship and went undefeated.
"He definitely has the speed to play linebacker. We've had conversations about doing that at the high school level, but we feel like the closer you are to the football, the better chance you'll have to make an impact on the game. So as a really gifted athlete, we like to play Ayo on the line and close to the football. But he has the athleticism to make that transition.
"Like I said, his ball get-off is really, really good. The best way I can describe him is that he's he's extremely explosive and athletic. A lot of his sacks are high-motor things where he's coming from the backside. He runs to the ball extremely hard and he plays with his hands really well."
A three-star prospect from Hoban High School in Ohio, Darryl Peterson chose Wisconsin over offers from Alabama, Michigan, West Virginia, Northwestern, Maryland and Michigan State, among others, in June.
"I told the coaches yesterday (Sunday) on a Zoom meeting," Peterson told BadgerBlitz.com. "I almost shed a tear when I heard the stuff they were saying about me and how I fit at Wisconsin. It was me, Coach (Joe) Rudolph, Coach (Bobby) April and Coach (Paul) Chryst, and you could feel how happy they were even though we were on Zoom."
The Badgers, who signed fellow Hoban standout Quan Easterling in the 2019 class, hosted Peterson last fall and most recently on March 1. He was the 12th commitment for UW in the 2021 class.
"I've been talking to guys like Hunter Wohler, Bryan Sanborn and Deacon Hill for over a month now - really since March 1 for some of the guys I met during the junior day," Peterson said. "There's nothing like knowing the people you're going to be there with, so that made it a lot easier for me. And then I've been there four times already, and it's not far from home.
"So being around the guys and being around the coaches, it just felt like family and it felt like home. Having a former teammate there in Quan Easterling made it easier and I know he'll help me get acclimated and adjusted. All that stuff played a huge role."
