Badger of Honor
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4-star DE Isaac Hamm signs with the Wisconsin football team

By Christian Borman

Sep 4, 2021; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers mascot Bucky Badger waves the Wisconsin flag prior to the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 4, 2021; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers mascot Bucky Badger waves the Wisconsin flag prior to the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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The recruitment of 4-star defensive end Isaac Hamm is finally over.  Hamm was considered a sure-bet recruit for the Wisconsin football team, but he took his time making his decision. I mean, who can blame a kid for that?

The Sun Prairie product had 10 scholarship offers and a final four of Wisconsin, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Penn State.

It sounds like things came down to Wisconsin and Ohio State. According to 247Sports, Hamm didn’t have an offer from Ohio State, but you never know, there might have been an offer or a walk-on opportunity that Hamm was looking into.

At the end of the day, Hamm chose to stay home and play for the Wisconsin football team.

He is listed as a defensive end, but the Badgers plan on putting him at outside linebacker, a position that has had a lot of success since Dave Arranda was in Madison to now with Jim Leonhard. The Badgers have put plenty of outside linebackers into NFL in the past few years, including T.J. Watt, who is a perennial Defensive Player of the Year contender and currently leads the NFL in sacks with 16.0 sacks in 13 games.

Hamm will have an opportunity to be the next big pass rusher to come out of Wisconsin. 247Sports’ Allen Trieu provides a scouting report on what the Badgers will be getting from Hamm:

"Has a college-ready body and frame. Has been in the weight room and has good bulk and muscle. High school has used him on the edge, inside, standing up, basically all over. In college, we would think a 3-4 end or a 4-3 strongside end would suit him well but he does offer some versatility. Strong, nice first step, has some twitch for a bigger guy. Needs to keep working on hand technique, but a lot to like and he plays with motor."

Hamm, you might remember, is the recruit that Braelon Allen had a friendly lifting wager with. The deal was if Allen out-lifted Hamm, then Hamm would have to commit to Wisconsin. Allen eventually won, but Hamm didn’t commit to Wisconsin at that time because it would be kind of ridiculous to commit your future to a school over a lifting bet.

In the end, it all worked out. Allen got the commitment out of Hamm.

With this commitment, the Badgers currently have three out of the six original ‘Super 6’ from the 2022 class. They have only lost Jerry Cross, who was never really into the idea of coming to Wisconsin, and Billy Schrauth, who ended up at Notre Dame. They have a chance to get number four if Carson Hinzman commits to Wisconsin. He could potentially make his decision by Friday now that the early signing period is open.

Hamm is a great addition for this Wisconsin football team and the 2022 recruiting class, which has gotten some criticism about being lower-ranked than some fans would have liked to see. But with a smaller class comes a lower ranking due to the number of commits. Instead, look at the average ranking of each recruit and compare that way. That’s more indicative of where this class truly lies.