2021 OLB T.J. Bollers on Relationship with Wisconsin, Junior Day Visit

Earlier this week, T.J. Bollers released his list of top six programs he will focus on moving forward. One of those was Wisconsin, which made an impression early on during his recruiting process.

"So the first time I was at Wisconsin, I was there for a football camp," Bollers told AllBadgers.com earlier this week. "I was actually still projected as a defensive end instead of an outside linebacker so I worked with Coach 'Nokes' (defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield). That was some of the best coaching that I've gotten while I was still in my college search, still trying to put myself out there and get offers.

"So the relationship that I was able to build just in that single day with him, and with some of the players that were there helping out with the camp, that was really big."

Bollers mentioned he then met head coach Paul Chryst and later took in the campus, something he described as "beautiful -- beautiful is probably an understatement."

Now Wisconsin looks at him as an outside linebacker, and the Tiffin, Ia. (Clear Creek-Amana High School), native has continued to build his relationship with position coach Bobby April III and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

Bollers stated that he talks with April about once or twice a week, and a couple of times a month, he will receive contact from Chryst.

"It's really good," Bollers said about said relationship with April. "We've been on a bunch of Zoom meetings. We text back and forth, just to check up, just talk about stuff. So I'd say that we have a really good relationship."

247Sports, Rivals and ESPN all designate Bollers as a four-star recruit. 247Sports' composite rankings rate him as the No. 140 player overall in the class of 2021, while Rivals grades him higher as the No. 97 recruit in the country for the next recruiting cycle.

Bollers has made the trek across state lines to visit Wisconsin now four times. He has camped at UW, along with taking in 2019 home games against Michigan and Iowa. On March 1, the program held another junior day event, and the projected outside linebacker again took in Madison.

"That junior day was really fun," Bollers said. "I was there with (cornerback) R.J. Regan, (outside linebacker) Darryl Peterson and (Wisconsin commit) Hunter Wohler, and that was all the first time we met as some of the big 2021 guys. It was really cool being able to be there. We talked about a lot of things. I was able to be in a strength meeting, and I was able to talk with an engineering supervisor and also see some of the lab spaces that they have.

"We sat through, saw a training meeting, and then we got some one-on- one time with Coach Leonhard and Coach April just to talk some ball. All of that stuff, it was a lot of fun. It was very eye opening, some new aspects of Wisconsin."

Had a fantastic visit yesterday @BadgerFootball thank you @CoachAprilUW @CoachKhalif @CoachGebhardt @bzdebski @CoachWHerring and everyone else that helped set this up‼‼ #OnWisconsin #Badgers 🦡 pic.twitter.com/CBUOJwdyt8
— TJ Bollers (@tj35ballin) March 2, 2020

In terms of official visits, Bollers had three locked in as of Wednesday, and that includes what would be a fifth trip to Madison. According to the four-star recruit, the plan included heading to Wisconsin on the second weekend of June.

That visit is sandwiched between officials to California and Iowa State -- two other programs in Bollers' top six -- in the same month. Recruits are allowed to take up to five during their recruiting process. There will be some decisions to make for the final two trips between Northwestern, Nebraska and Alabama, who also made the cut earlier this week.

As to when he would like to announce his decision, it depends upon how his schedule is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If all of that goes as planned and I'm able to take June and July official visits," Bollers said, "then I'll probably have a decision made before my senior season so that I'll be able to try and enroll early."

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