Wisconsin adds three-star OLB Jake Ratzlaff to its 2021 class

Wisconsin added what may be the final piece to its 2021 recruiting class Monday morning.

Jake Ratzlaff, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound outside linebacker from Rosemont High School in Minnesota, committed to the Badgers, he confirmed with Rivals.com's Midwest Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmholdt. Ratzlaff is commit No. 21 for UW in the 2021 recruiting class.

"Wisconsin's a great program with so many great coaches and great people," Ratzlaff told Rivals.com. "Throughout the recruiting process they have been very patient and great with it. I'm just very excited to get there and go to work."

Ratzlaff was previously committed to play hockey at Minnesota, a decision he made in July of 2017. As his high school career wore on, though, football offers came in from the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Iowa State.

"Wisconsin offered last summer at their camp and they've been talking to me ever since," Ratzlaff told BadgerBlitz.com in a previous interview. "That was actually the only time I've been there because I've been so busy with hockey. I was going to get down there for the spring game in April but, obviously, that's all been cancelled or pushed back. But I'm hoping to get down there soon when things get back to normal.

"Coach (Bob) Bostad has been absolutely phenomenal with recruiting and all this hockey stuff. He wants me to come play there but hasn't been pushy about it. He asks how hockey is going with all the chaos that's been going on. He's been great about all this with hockey and football and I think he's helped me out a lot. He knows that Wisconsin would be one of the top schools I would choose if I was going to play football, so he's been great about all of it and really understanding."

With Ratzlaff, the Badgers now have four outside linebackers committed in the 2021 class, along with Ayo Adebogun, T.J. Bollers and Darryl Peterson.