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Inked for the Wisconsin Badgers: Three-star middle linebacker Malik Reed

With the early signing period for high school football players beginning on Dec. 18, BadgerBlitz.com dives into a closer look at the commits who have signed with the Wisconsin Badgers.

Let's take a look at linebacker Malik Reed, who officially signed with Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The 11th commitment in Wisconsin’s 2020 class, Reed is a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and the No.51 outside linebacker in the country.

Malik Reed
Malik Reed (Darren Lee/BadgerBlitz.com Photographer)
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RECRUITING STORY/COMPETITION 

Reed committed to the Badgers over scholarship offers from Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon State, Purdue, UCLA, Washington State and Yale.

Arizona has been a decent recruiting territory for the University of Wisconsin over the last several years; well known to the point that Reed was excited by the scholarship offer wide receiver Ted Gilmore extended him in December 2018.

“Me and coach Gilmore have a good relationship that’s only going to get better,” Reed told BadgerBlitz.com at the time. “It shows that he’s really interested in me when he flies all the way from Wisconsin to Arizona to offer me. I really appreciated that and me and coach Gilmore have been talking since the beginning of the season, so we’ve developed a good relationship.”

While he was hearing from several West Coast schools, Reed was open to the opportunity to play far away from his home, a point that was hammered home to him when he took an unofficial visit to Madison in January.

“I got to tour all of Wisconsin’s facilities - they have some great things going on there,” Reed told BadgerBlitz.com after his visit. “Coach (Chryst talked about how they don’t just want to build great football players but also build great men. He also talked about how great it would be if I were to commit to Wisconsin and how they were super excited about me.”

Reed stayed on top of his recruiting process, especially as new West Coast offers from UCLA and Washington State came in the months ahead that piqued his interest. He took unofficial visits to UCLA and Arizona, as well as going to Nebraska’s spring game shortly after the Huskers offered him at inside linebacker.

But if other schools tried to gloss over his affection for Wisconsin, Reed’s return trip on an official visit to Madison in June with his family reminded him of why he was so excited about the school in the first place. Not only did Reed get along well with Chryst and Gilmore, but inside linebacker coach Bob Bostad build a good report with him and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard helped aggressively recruit him, too.

He followed through with his official visit to Lincoln shortly thereafter but announced his commitment to the Badgers not long after he returned home.

WHY WISCONSIN?

“The way the coaches run their defense really caught my eye. I really like the 3-4 defense they run because they focus a lot on their linebackers by always having four on the field. They said I can play either inside or outside linebacker, but they would prefer inside.”

- Reed told BadgerBlitz.com

SCOUT'S TAKE

“He's a really strong kid. In our off-season, he repped 285 pounds 13 times. He has tremendous speed and a natural nose for the football. He did a good job in the summer in the 7-on-7 stuff in pass coverage. He'll have to do that more at the college level. He's got a motor and a nose for the ball, and he also has a knack for blitzing and timing his blitzes.”

- Chandler High School coach Rick Garretson told BadgerBlitz.com

BADGERBLITZ.COM'S TAKE

Reed’s tape should get one excited to see him at inside linebacker (or anywhere) for Wisconsin. Known as a relentless pass rusher, Reed’s athleticism and high motor allowed him to sack quarterbacks 8.5 times during his junior year. A strongly-built recruit who is physical at the point of contact, Reed has game-changing qualities like the recent inside linebackers who have played in Leonhard’s 3-4 defense.

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