Luke Fickell’s latest win didn’t come on a Saturday afternoon. It came on the recruiting trail, where Wisconsin just landed one of the biggest names in its modern history.
Jalanie George, the one-time five-star edge rusher from Desert Edge High School in Chandler, Arizona, announced his commitment live on the Rivals YouTube channel and picked the Badgers over Washington, Auburn, and Miami (FL). For Wisconsin, it’s the kind of splashy addition that turns heads far beyond Madison.
George is now considered a consensus four-star, but he was once rated as a five-star prospect and ranked inside the national top 10. Wisconsin entered the race late, but outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell and the Badgers kept pushing and earned a visit from George during the team’s non-conference game against Eastern Michigan.
That visit changed everything. Reports coming out of the trip were strongly positive, and the momentum quickly swung Wisconsin’s way. Before long, multiple recruiting experts were projecting the Badgers to land him.
The commitment gives Wisconsin a centerpiece for its 2028 class and a major recruiting victory at a position of real value. It also marks one of the highest-rated prospects the program has ever secured. According to his composite rating, Badger247 lists George as the No. 5 all-time commit for Wisconsin, behind only Josh Oglesby, Nolan Rucci, Logan Brown, and Anttaj Hawthorne.
Wisconsin also had a little help from inside George’s own locker room. Desert Edge teammates Yahzeen Zion and Nathan Jones are both committed to the Badgers’ 2027 class, and that connection clearly mattered.
George becomes the third member of Wisconsin’s 2028 class, joining linebacker Cale Britt and offensive lineman Brock Barrows. Even this early in the cycle, the Badgers’ class is sitting at No. 6 nationally on 247Sports and second in the Big Ten behind Ohio State.
Coming off the road win over No. 13 Penn State and now adding a prospect like George, Wisconsin is starting to look like a real national recruiting player.
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