12/11/2023 football Edit

Wisconsin lands FCS All-American OLB John Pius via transfer portal

Jon McNamara • BadgerBlitz

Editor

Jon McNamara is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has covered UW athletics since 2002 and has worked at Rivals.com since 2006.

For the second week in a row, Wisconsin has added a veteran outside linebacker via the transfer portal.

After the Badgers landed former Syracuse standout Leon Lowery last week, UW went back into the portal again and secured a commitment from John Pius on Monday. A two-year starter at William & Mary, Pius visited Madison officially this past weekend, a trip that also netted a scholarship offer.

Wisconsin landed a commitment from outside linebacker John Pius on Monday. (USAToday Sports)

Coming out of high school, Pius, 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, posted 23.0 sacks and 40.0 tackles for loss during his two varsity seasons at Yorktown in Virginia. He signed with William & Mary as part of the 2020 recruiting class.

In 2021, Pius appeared in all 11 games and earned 10 starts at outside linebacker. He finished the season with 39 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3.5 TFL and a fumble recovery. Pius started nine games the following season and finished second in voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the national defensive player of the year in the FCS. He was also an All-America first team selection by the Associated Press.

This fall, Pius recorded 9.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss for William & Mary. His overall PFF grade was an impressive 85.1 in 2023. In total, Pius racked up 115 career total tackles and 18.5 sacks for the Tribe.

Pius chose Wisconsin over offers from Cincinnati, Ball State, Coastal Carolina, Marshall and UConn. He is expected to have one year of eligibility remaining with the Badgers.

Adding a veteran makes sense considering Wisconsin's current outside linebacker situation. Starter C.J. Goetz is set to play his final game on Jan. 1 against LSU. The group will return Darryl Peterson, Jeff Pietrowski and Kaden Johnson from the current two-deep, but immediate help is needed on the edge. Matt Mitchell’s entire room generated just 9.5 sacks through 12 games this fall. Nick Herbig had 11.5 by himself in 2022.

The Badgers now have three transfer portal commitments this month.

Wisconsin's Outside Linebackers on Projected 2024 Spring Roster

OLB	Eligibility
Kaden Johnson	Fifth year
Aaron Witt	Fifth year
John Pius	Fifth year
Darryl Peterson	Fourth year
Leon Lowery	Fourth year
Jeff Pietrowski	Fourth year
*Evan Van Dyn Hoven	Second year
Anelu Lafaele	First year

*Indicates a preferred walk-on

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