Luke Fickell and Wisconsin flip 4-star Michigan commit in major recruiting win

Talk about a massive, massive get out on the recruiting trail for Wisconsin Badgers coach Luke Fickell and his staff. While there's a lot of focus on four-star quarterback target Carter Smith and a potential upcoming decision, Fickell and Co. just landed a huge commitment from a different playmaker.

That'd be four-star defensive lineman Jaylen Williams. The 6-6, 265-pounder was Michigan-bound, originally committing to the Wolverines. However, in a big-time twist, Fickell was able to flip him, with the breaking news just coming in. This flip had been suspected for a few weeks now, but the Badgers were able to officially get things over the top:

4-star DL Jaylen Williams has flipped his commitment from Michigan to Wisconsin

Williams took an official visit to Michigan in June and it seemed like he was going to be playing his college ball in Ann Arbor. However, Fickell and Wisconsin never stopped recruiting him and made him a priority for the 2025 class.

We can't state enough how monstrous of a recruiting win this is for Wisconsin. Williams is ranked four stars and the No. 26 defensive lineman in the country per 247Sports - he's also the No. 6 player from Illinois.

Throughout his recruitment, the newest Badger picked up offers from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Illinois, Maryland and many others. According to 247's Allen Trieu, Williams took a recent official visit to Madison to watch the Badgers host No. 1 Oregon. Wisconsin was close to pulling off the upset, but fell 16-13.

Despite the loss, the atmosphere on campus was electric all weekend, which included the men's hoops team taking down then No. 9 Arizona. With the stands packed at Camp Randall for the meeting with Oregon too, it surely turned heads for all of the recruits in town. We now know it made a big impact on Williams, who will head to Wisconsin as one of the top-rated recruits for the team in '25.