It was a hard fought battle for all the services of 2013 defensive end Alec James, but early on Monday night the Brookfield (WI) East product made his verbal commitment to the Wisconsin Badgers.
Officially Committed to Playing football next year at the University of Wisconsin!! and if u aint with us u in the food chain
#OnWisconsin— Alec James (@blackXsuperman) August 6, 2012
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The 6’4″ 225lbs. defensive end was highly sought after with Michigan State the hottest of the other schools after his services. Other schools he held offers from reads like a who’s who list of BCS schools, including the likes of Iowa State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Illinois, TCU, Vanderbilt, and Arizona State.
With his commitment that makes it 13 for the class of 2013 for the Badgers. He joins good friend and Brookfield Central DE Chikwe Obasih as well as defensive tackles Darius Latham and Sam Rairdon as commits on the defensive line for the 2013 class.
With James in the fold the Badgers have now secured what could arguably the single best defensive line in school history. It was already up there on the list, but with him in the fold the best single class is unquestionably in front of us.
James is a three star defensive end prospect by 247sports, Rivals, and Scout. He is rated as a four star by ESPNRecruitingNation.
Rankings Breakdown:
- 247sports: 3 *, 88 rating, NR in Top247, 41st ATH, 3rd in WI
- Rivals: 3*, NR nationally, 21st DE, 2nd in WI
- Scout: 3*, 58th DE
- ESPNRN: 4*, 82 rating, 29th DE, 38th overall in region, 1st in WI
Thoughts on James:
Alec James comes to Wisconsin has a pure pass rushing defensive end to say the least. He has been working on getting bigger and stronger, so don’t let the 225lbs. fool you, he’ll probably be closer to 240lbs or so by the time he comes to Wisconsin, a perfect weight for a pass rushing end early in their career as a Badger. Add in the fact that he’s known to have benched 315lbs. before his senior season and you can see he’s a very strong individual period.
He’s got a ton of speed and he’s been very productive, recording 86 tackles from the defensive end position in 2011 to go along with a ridiculous 13 sacks. He’s also been clocked as running a 4.52 40yd dash already and his commitment adds a ton of speed that is currently lacking on the line outside of David Gilbert.
He reminds me a bit of Gilbert and he’ll be able to learn under him for a season, so that will be helpful. The one area of his game that may need the most improvement is in the hand fighting area. He’s faster and stronger than a lot of the players he’s going up against at the high school level so he can get away with not having to hand fight as much. In the Big Ten everyone is big and strong, so technique will need to be worked on a bit, but again, that is all stuff that is totally coachable. It’s not as if he lacks mobility or vision, stuff that has to come naturally if you are going to be good.
In the end the Badgers have one exciting prospect and a hell of a great addition to the defensive line for years to come. I’ve already got visions of Obasih and James terroizing Big Ten backfields for years to come running around in my head and it may not be long before the rest of Badger nation catches up!
Don’t believe me then check out the video below:
(James is #7 in the video below)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=edZPo7YVakc
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