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Tristan Monday: 'It's hard to turn down the No. 1 defense in the country'

Why did Tristan Monday flip his commitment from Arizona to Wisconsin? Quite succinctly, the 2022 prospect and latest Badgers' verbal gave his reason why.

“It's hard to turn down the No. 1 defense in the country," Monday told BadgerBlitz.com on Thursday evening.

Monday officially visited Wisconsin last weekend and took in the sights and sounds of Camp Randall Stadium and departed Madison on Monday morning. Later that day, reports of the three-star prospect's flip to the Badgers emerged, and he confirmed the decision on his Instagram account.

Wisconsin commit Tristan Monday.
Wisconsin commit Tristan Monday. (Rivals.com)
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It became quite the weekend for Monday, the No. 43 strong-side defensive end in the senior class, who described his trip into "The Badger State" right after competing for Scottsdale (AZ) Saguaro.

"Saturday was more of the game. Then they gave us time to rest because I had a game Friday night," Monday said. "So I got on a plane at midnight, and got in right before the game. I got to the airport, and they took us right to the game, so Sunday was more of all the facility tours, meeting with coaches and everything like that.”

His visit started off with Wisconsin's 35-7 win over Northwestern inside Camp Randall Stadium.

"I've never seen a stadium like that with a culture like that," Monday said. "Jump Around was absolutely crazy. Just to feel the entire stadium shake and to see all the fans behind that one team.”

Monday visited Wisconsin with his parents. From the prospect's perspective, they also enjoyed their time in Madison.

"Oh, they loved it," Monday said. "They loved the city. They loved all the coaches, and a few of their family members came to the dinners on the nights. Having interactions with all those players and the people who are really going to be with me mostly through four years of college, they just felt really good handing me over to them."

Sophomore outside linebacker Aaron Witt hosted Monday on his visit.

“The main thing we talked about was how you have to have a bit of a meanness to play on this defense, and that's what really got me excited because that’s how I play," Monday said. "So it just added on to how I fit in and how much I'm going to enjoy playing for this program.”

Monday met with many of Wisconsin's players, and as he declared, "I loved every second of it."

"I felt like I fit in really well with all their players, and on all the facility tours. I felt everyone’s heads were in the right place. They all had that same mindset, they want to win, and that's really the only thing on their mind is winning. There's no option to lose.”

After taking in Wisconsin's culture and talking with players and coaches, Monday and his parents spoke in their hotel room on Saturday night about the decision they wanted to make.

Later on during the visit, the 6-foot-4, now 255-pound recruit noted that he first declared his intentions to Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst.

“I had a meeting with coaches, and when I met with Coach Chryst, that was when I told him," Monday said. "Then we kind of just kept going on with the meetings, and I told everyone.”

However, Monday previously declared his oral commitment to Arizona. That initial decision came earlier this year in March. The hardest aspect in the process of de-committing from the Pac-12 program was speaking with the coaches and telling them the news, according to Monday.

"That's always tough for any player because you've already built a relationship with those coaches," Monday said. "But I told them, it was just a better situation all around for me to come to Wisconsin.”

Arizona envisioned Monday as a 'SAM' (strong-side) linebacker in its defense, while Wisconsin views him as a strong-side defensive end. He noted UW looks at him on the line in playing "tight 5 or 4i" technique while adding 15 pounds to play around 270.

Monday recalled communication with Wisconsin first starting at the end of his freshman year with outside linebackers coach Bobby April III. They spoke "for a time, and then COVID hit and everything kind of got messed up," according to the Arizona native.

The prospect estimated Wisconsin starting contact up with him again about a month-and-a-half ago with defensive line coach Ross Kolodziej. An offer came UW in October, and he has built a relationship with the assistant since then.

“So he was the one that originally reached out to me in the time even before my offer, and throughout the recruiting process until I did get my offer and we made the plan to come up there," Monday said. "He always wanted me to be confident with my decision and where I wanted to go. And I think the thing that really meant the most to me was how much he cared about more than just football and me on a personal level.”

Update, Nov. 20: Correctly stating Witt's eligibility as a sophomore, according to UW.

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