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Published Nov 20, 2024
Wisconsin flips four-star DE Jaylen Williams from Michigan
Seamus Rohrer  •  BadgerBlitz
Staff
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Wisconsin completed the flip for four-star defensive end Jaylen Williams, a former Michigan commit, on Wednesday evening.

The Illinois native, ranked as the No. 7 player in his home state and the No. 13 strong-side defensive end in the country, had been committed to Michigan since June 10. \

Wisconsin got him on campus for an official visit this past weekend for the Oregon game, and that visit was the driving force behind his flip. Still, the Badgers have been on Williams dating back to Gregg Scruggs' tenure as the defensive line coach. He was offered in January of 2023 and got on campus no less than three times.

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Williams wasn't exactly rock solid in his Michigan pledge. He continued to take official visits after his verbal commitment, including Texas A&M, Tennessee and Nebraska. Overall, the 6-foot-6, 250 pound pass-rusher racked up 32 offers, including Miami, Ohio State, Oregon and USC.

Wisconsin likes Williams as an outside linebacker, where he can stand up on the edge and will be asked to drop back into coverage as well.

"Physically, he's going to fill out when he gets into a college weight program," Palatine head coach Corey Olson told Rivals.com. "There's no doubt about it that he could be 290 pounds. He was 280 pounds when he was a freshman. And he's leaned out since then, he's about 245 now. But I don't doubt he could be a guy you put in a 4i and he could play a B gap, then you could move him to an edge and could be a good edge rusher as well. So, he's one of those versatile kids that with all the right training, he's going to get as big, strong and as fast as he can. It's nice to be able to have a piece like him that you can move around and have do so many different things, and not have to sub him out in run situations. He should be a four down guy that can do it all."

Williams' pledge pushes the Badgers to 23 total commits in the 2025 cycle, nine of whom are rated as four-star prospects. He joins Samuel Lateju and Nicolas Clayton as edge pieces for Wisconsin in this class.

"He is a tremendously hard worker," Olson said. "He is a really really good at playing with effort in practice. He practices as hard as he can, all the time. Just from a personal standpoint, he has a ton of charisma—a really great kid with a great attitude that has a smile on his face. He enjoys being a part of the team."

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