Inked for the Wisconsin Badgers: Three-star Outside Linebacker Jordan Mayer

With the early signing period for high school football players beginning on Dec. 21, BadgerBlitz.com dives into a closer look at the commits who have signed with the Wisconsin Badgers.

Let's take a look at Jefferson Hills (PA) Thomas Jefferson outside linebacker Jordan Mayer, who officially signed with Wisconsin on Wednesday after committing to the program in June 2022.

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The 5th commitment in Wisconsin’s 2023 class, Mayer is a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He is also rated the No.25 prospect in Pennsylvania.

Mayer committed to the Badgers over 16 other scholarship offers, including a Final Four of Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. He was previously committed to Boston College for a month last spring and had other major offers from Duke, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Vanderbilt.

Mayer received his first Power Five offer from Boston College in August 2021, which made an impact on him. Taking visits to Pittsburgh, Penn State, Rutgers (offered), and West Virginia (offered) last winter, Mayer committed to BC on March 22. That pledge changed when Wisconsin entered the picture less than a month later, thanks in part to his high school coach’s long relationship with former head coach Paul Chryst and former tight end coach Chris Haering.

Mayer backed off his commitment before taking an unofficial visit to Madison, admitting that he rushed into his decision and wanted the opportunity to see more schools to remove any doubts. Any worries about his recruitment were alleviated by the Badgers’ staff, mainly outside linebackers coach Bobby April, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, and defensive assistant Mike Caputo (a Pittsburgh guy). Admitting he was close to committing during the visit, Mayer waited until returning to Madison on an official visit with his mom to commit in June.

“It was the people, honestly, and I know everyone says that but it's correct. When I got down there and I experienced it, it was just surreal. Just the people, especially Coach Chryst. He just cares about his guys so much. We were eating dinner at his house and he made sure to send all the guys home with food. Those are the little things that stand out. It's just a special program with special people.

"It feels great to make this decision. People always said that you'll know the fit once you get there, and I never believed that. But when I got up there, everything felt perfect and exactly like home. So now I have to believe what everyone was saying."

“He's athletic enough to be whatever they want to make him, and that's the best thing about him. He's long, he's lean right now at about 225 pounds, and he can run. He'll be whatever they need him to be. If they need him as a 3-technique and to gain 40 pounds, he can do that. And that's his attitude - he just wants to play and be on the field.

“At one point in the offseason, he was in the 240s (pounds). And during that time, he felt he was a little too heavy and he wanted to come into the season lighter. So now he's around 220, and it's not really a big deal to put on the weight or lose the weight. He carries it well and he has a good frame to put weight on - especially right now with how lean he is. As they put it on in college, it's so much different than how they put it on themselves in high school. Wisconsin will do it their way with the nutrition part of it, and it will be fine when he gets there. I don't foresee him having any issues there.”

- High School coach William Cherpak following Mayer’s commitment

April took a similar approach when recruiting for Mayer: find a long, disruptive edge rusher who he could convert to an outside linebacker down the road. Mayer was originally viewed as a tight end prospect by Haering until April and Leonhard got involved and the projection makes sense.

Although Mayer plays with his hand in the ground, he closes quickly, plays with leverage, and doesn’t lose many 50-50 opportunities when it comes to being engaged with a lineman or making a tackle. His size already makes him tough to defend, but his quickness coming off the ball is what stood him apart for a championship-level high school defense. As his high school coach told him, he’s really a force.

There will be some time needed for Mayer to develop, which he will be afforded because of the depth April has built at the outside linebacker position. Mayer is still developing his pass-rush technique and will need to learn to play without his hand on the ground. Mayer will also need to show how well he can drop into coverage to take on physical tight ends or quicker running backs.

However, during Mayer’s unofficial visit, UW made the lofty comparison of his film to T.J. Watt’s freshman season to show the similarities between the two. It’ll be interesting to see if the new defensive staff sees him the same way, but Mayer knows a lot of them – including incoming defensive coordinator Mike Tressel – from being recruited by Cincinnati.

Either way, Mayer plays physical, smash-mouth football and there always seems to be room for a player with that mindset.

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