Wisconsin Badgers miss on 4-star edge rusher to Big Ten rival

The University of Wisconsin football staff will need to continue looking for other recruits to fill a need at outside linebacker for the 2026 class.

Jackson Samuels Ford, a consensus four-star recruit who took an official visit to Wisconsin the weekend of May 29-June 1, announced Friday his commitment to Penn State. He also made official visits to the Nittany Lions, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State and Stanford.

Wisconsin has not fared well in reeling at the outside linebacker position thus far for the 2026 class. One-time commit Carmelow Reed flipped to Mississippi earlier in the month, while McHale Blade (Michigan) and Ben Duncum (Kentucky) took official visits to Wisconsin but chose other Power Four schools.

The Badgers brought in three scholarship outside linebackers for their 2025 class, most notably four-star recruits Jaylen Williams and Nick Clayton. Clayton enrolled in January and has impressed early on during his time in Madison.

The Badgers have 14 scholarship players who have announced their verbal commitments to the program in the 2026 class, along with walk-on offensive lineman Aiden Dirksen.