Wisconsin's signed 19 scholarship athletes during college football's early singing period in December.

The Badgers inked just one on Wednesday, but it was at a critical position of need with the addition of four-star running back Jalen Berger.

Berger, 6-foot, 200 pounds, committed to UW at the All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January. A senior from Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, Berger trimmed his list to LSU, Penn State, Rutgers, UCLA and UW, but also listed scholarships from Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia Tech, among many others, during the course of his recruitment.

"It was a great reaction because Jonathan Taylor had just declared for the NFL so they felt like I can come in and have an early impact," Berger told Rivals.com. "I knew it was Wisconsin pretty much after my official visit. I was there when they played Iowa and I got to see Madison and how beautiful it was. I got to talk to Jonathan Taylor and stuff like that and that's pretty much when I had my mind made up."

As a senior, Berger had 111 rushing attempts for 840 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also caught 27 passes for 357 yards and four scores.

Adam Friedman, Mid-Atlantic analyst:

“Wisconsin has a great track record with running backs from New Jersey. Berger is a little different than the ones in the past. He’s not a back who’s going to pound the rock necessarily. He’s a much better receiver than a pure running back and I’m not sure that fits into the Wisconsin offense all that well."

Mike Farrell, National recruiting director

“Wisconsin would definitely make sense. Dayne, Clement and Taylor are from New Jersey. They’ve got a really good tradition of running backs from that state. I’m sure they sold him on that and told him how he could be the next guy. He’s not a big, physical pounder like those guys but they can still make it work in that offense."