Positional recruit snapshot: Wisconsin Badgers 2022 linebackers

Over the next two weeks, BadgerBlitz.com will be bringing you snapshots for each recruited position, covering the targets who are legitimate prospects on Wisconsin's board in the 2022 class. We will discuss the candidates who are most interested in the Badgers, as well as those who are considered long shots to commit to UW.

As always, this is just a snapshot in time and things remain fluid. Additional offered targets will appear over the next few months and some recruits will inevitably choose other colleges.

Today, we continue with a look at the linebackers.

QBs | RBs | TEs | WRs | OL | DL |

The future at outside linebacker looks bright with true freshman Nick Herbig having emerged this fall for the Badgers. The former four-star prospect started during the regular season alongside fifth-year senior Noah Burks, with CJ Goetz and Spencer Lytle rounding out the two-deep. Four-star T.J. Bollers will join the group this spring as an early enrollee.

On the inside, Wisconsin is expected to return its two starters from 2020 - Jack Sanborn and Leo Chenal - and potentially the top reserve in fifth-year senior Mike Maskalunas. Tatum Grass, Maema Njongmeta, Jordan Turner, Malik Reed and Preston Zachman will all battle for reps in the two-deep this spring. From the 2021 class, Jake Chaney is expected to enroll early.

Joshua Burnham, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound projected outside linebacker from Traverse City Central in Michigan, took in Wisconsin's junior day on March 1.

"Wisconsin is a very cool place and the visit was great," Burnham told BadgerBlitz.com. "I got to talk to a lot of coaches. I got to know them and they got to know me. We toured the campus with Coach (Bob) Bostad and saw all the buildings where you would go to school and stay at as a freshman. We also got to see the city in a way.

"I think my relationship with Coach Bostad is really good. We got to spend the whole day together and he got to know me and my family more."

Burnham also lists offers from Alabama, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State and Notre Dame, among others.