Wisconsin beats out Alabama and others for 4-star defender

Wisconsin has landed its fifth 4-star recruit in the 2021 class.

Defensive end/outside linebacker TJ Bollers (Tiffin, Iowa) announced his commitment to the Badgers on Thursday.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Bollers is ranked as the 147th-best player in the country and the No. 2 player in the state of Iowa, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Bollers dad, Trevor, played for Iowa in the 1990s and the family lives just a short drive away from Kinnick Stadium. But Bollers didn’t even have Iowa among his final five teams. Instead, he chose the Badgers over offers from Alabama, Penn State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Iowa State and many others.

Bollers joins offensive linemen JP Benzschawel and Riley Mahlman, along with safety Hunter Wohler and tight end Jack Pugh, as 4-star recruits in Wisconsin’s 2021 class. That’s tied with the 2020 group for the most 4-star recruits in a single class in school history.

247Sports has Bollers as the second-highest rated recruit in the class behind Benzschawel.

Prior to the commitment, the Badgers’ class was ranked No. 16 in the nation.