6/11/2020 football Edit

Wisconsin lands commitment from four-star T.J. Bollers

Four-star T.J. Bollers has committed to Wisconsin

Josh Helmholdt • Rivals.com

National Recruiting Analyst

During the last few months is started to become evident Wisconsin was in the driver’s seat with Rivals100 defensive end T.J. Bollers. Once June official visits were eliminated by an extended dead period, it appeared a commitment was imminent. On Thursday, the four-star out of Clear Creek Amana in Iowa made it official, announcing his decision to join the Badger’s 2021 class.

“(Wisconsin) just fit all the criteria and all the things I envisioned a college being,” Bollers said. “It had a really great Engineering program, it had the campus, its football program is established and their fan base is solid.”

Bollers made four visits to Madison, with the most recent coming at the beginning of March. Those experiences combined with his research on the school and conversations with Wisconsin coaches gave Bollers the confidence to make his decision.

“A lot of recruits, a lot of commits and players say once you know, you know,” Bollers said. “I feel like after I got all the information I needed with the Engineering (program), the development, being able to see coaches coach and all of that, I feel like I knew. I feel like this is going to be a great decision for me and my family.”

Through his previous visits to campus Bollers was able to meet and develop friendships with several Badger commitments and targets, including Darryl Peterson and Hunter Wohler.

“The March 3rd visit is when we just first met, and our relationship has just grown since then,” Bollers said. “It was easy to talk with them and ask what them what they liked and what they didn’t like.

“For me and Darryl, we had a couple of the same offers. We had Alabama and we had Wisconsin, which ultimately that was what it was probably going to boil down to. We were able to talk about our likes and dislikes and compare and contrast.”

Ranked as the No. 6 strongside defensive end in the 2021 class, Bollers is expected to man more of an outside linebacker role when he arrives in Wisconsin, similar to the position T.J. Watt played for the Badgers.