Inked for the Wisconsin Badgers: Three-star Safety Justin Taylor

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 La Grange Park (Ill.) Nazareth Academy safety Justin Taylor, who officially signed with Wisconsin on Wednesday after committing to the program in May 2022.

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The 3rd commitment in Wisconsin’s 2023 class, Taylor is a three-star prospect by Rivals.com. He is also rated the No.50 safety in the country and the No.14 prospect in Illinois.

Taylor committed to the Badgers over 17 other scholarship offers, including a Power-Five offer from Kansas State.

An athlete who attended his fair share of college camps to help boost his recruiting stock (over a half dozen in the summer of 2021), Taylor’s first offer came from Miami (OH), but he had his sights set higher. He took gameday visits to Nebraska, Northwestern, and Notre Dame during his junior season and finally got his first major offer during a Junior Day visit to Kansas State this past March.

Taylor was ecstatic about his offer from the Wildcats and maintained K-State would always be near the top of his list, but a spring offer from Wisconsin was unexpected and quickly changed his recruitment.

Visited at his school multiple times by outside linebackers coach Bobby April during the spring recruiting period, Taylor was impressed with how April and his staff got to know him and his family, evaluated him by talking to his coaches, and how authentic the staff came across.

“They evaluated me crazy,” Taylor said. “Very thorough with their evaluation process, and I appreciated that. They never played any games. They were always serious. Everything they said was genuine and all the feelings were genuine.”

Admitted that he dreamed about playing in the Big Ten growing up, and getting a chance to play close to home, Taylor quickly scheduled an unofficial visit and promptly committed in Paul Chryst’s office.

"First off, I really fell in love with the school and the whole atmosphere on campus, and then the academics were huge for me. I didn't want to just go to a great football school, I wanted to get a degree from a great academic institution. Wisconsin is almost like a public Ivy League school, so I wanted to find that perfect balance of academics and athletics. I found that at Wisconsin."

“The obvious intangibles you see on film. But what you don't see on film is that he's very intelligent, both academically and as a football player in terms of situational awareness and knowing where everybody else is supposed to be on the field. He's the conductor back there when he's on defense.

“Usually you are concerned about maybe one half of the field, but Justin is almost like a quarterback on defense where he has the ability to see the entire defense and also where everybody's supposed to be. He can make the proper checks and calls for specific games or formations. It's literally one of those coach on the field type of situations with Justin."

- High School Coach Tim Racki

A talented two-way athlete, Taylor was getting recruiting interest from Power Five schools at wide receiver. At Nazareth, Taylor played receiver, running back, defensive back, and on special teams. As a junior, he had 33 carries for 226 yards, along with 800-plus receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Last season, his play helped his high school win a 5A state championship. Chryst and his staff liked Taylor at safety, so it’ll be interesting to see if Luke Fickell and company like him along those same lines.

Taylor is technically sound and has the mindset of a ball-hawking defensive back. His offensive background gives him confidence in his ability to move, change direction, and cover. At the high school level, his physicality was utilized by his coaching staff to help set the edge of the defense. Kansas State was recruiting Taylor as a safety for its 3-3-5 defense, which Taylor believed fit his versatility and his identity as a defensive back. Should UW make that switch to what Fickell was running at Cincinnati, Taylor could naturally slide into a position of need for the Badgers.

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