Aden Reeder fits what Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers’ defense is looking for in their growing crop of linebackers.

The 6-foot-3, 205 pound recruit announced his commitment to Wisconsin on Monday.

His junior Hudl film shows him working off the edge at outside linebacker for Cincinnati St. Xavier, but he also played off the ball and could accelerate downhill into the backfield. He finished with 72 tackles, 14½ tackles for loss and three sacks last season, according to MaxPreps.

Reeder is now projected to work within the inside linebacker group for defensive coordinator Mike Tressel. His frame and athleticism is similar to current Badgers backers Christian Alliegro (6-foot-4, 245 pounds), Thomas Heiberger (6-foot-4, 233 pounds), Landon Gauthier (6-fo3, 235) and incoming four-star freshman Mason Posa (listed at 6-foot-3 on Hudl).

Reeder is the first projected inside linebacker for this recruitng cycle to commit to the program, but the Badgers have also pursued a few others at his position.

Predicting just how many off-ball linebackers Wisconsin will take at this point is difficult, especially when weighing in how the staff evaluates the position group after the regular season and if there are any future transfer portal decisions at that time that could affect depth.

One 2026 target is Mason Marden, who just unveiled his top five last week and listed Wisconsin among his top schools. A decision is forthcoming in weeks’ time for Marden, and Badgers coaches visited both Marden and Reeder last week.

Linebacker TJ White, a four-star recruit from Mississippi, also tweeted in February that he would take an official visit to Wisconsin the weeknd of May 29-June 1. He announced official visits to Tennessee (June 13-15) and Mississippi State (June 20-22) as well, and he took one to North Carolina last month.

There’s also Ben Wenzel, the in-state standout from Appleton North who has not announced an offer from Wisconsin. He tweeted earlier this month that he’ll take an official visit the weekend of May 29-June 1.

Reeder had declared Power Four offers from Boston College, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin since January.

He previously set an official visit for June 5-8 at Wisconsin, but Minnesota and Iowa were also in line for official visits.

Wisconsin has competed with both conference foes on the recruiting trail often. The Gophers received an early commitment within the Badger State from Janesville Parker offensive lineman Gavin Meier, who Wisconsin pursued heavily at the start of this year.

Iowa also holds a Wisconsin native among its 2026 commits in Winneconne wide receiver Brody Schaffer. Schaffer had not announced an offer from Wisconsin, though he was expected to visit in the spring before his early commitment.

Other recruiting targets shared by the Badgers and Hawkeyes include defensive lineman King Liggins (Chicago Brother Rice) and safety Messiah Tilson (Rockford Guilford).

We’re still months away from the 2026 early signing period with a busy summer official visit period coming in a matter of weeks, but Wisconsin ranks 38th in the nation by 247Sports composite rankings as of May 12. That’s the highest by an outlet (On3 has Wisconsin as 42nd in the country and Rivals 43rd after Reeder’s commitment).

In terms of number of recruits who gave commitments up to May 12, Wisconsin now is sitting in line with the 2024 and 2025 classes. The 2024 class, Fickell’s first as Badgers coach, had seven verbal commitments as of May 12, 2023.

Wisconsin’s 2025 class had 10 commits at this time last year, though slot receiver Cam Miller announced May 15 his commitment to the program.

That said, three of those early 2025 commits – Miller, quarterback Landyn Locke and linebacker Brenden Anes – eventually did not sign with the program.

Wisconsin’s current 2026 commits are as follows: