Wisconsin Badgers miss on 2026 DL target who commits to Bret Bielema, Illinois

A longtime Wisconsin defensive line target from a key recruiting area plans to play for former Badgers football coach Bret Bielema. Here's who the Badgers should be targeting as official visits begin.

Oct 12, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema celebrates a 50-49 win over the Purdue Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

A longtime Wisconsin defensive line target from a key recruiting area plans to play for former Badgers football coach Bret Bielema.

King Liggins, a 2026 three-star recruit who plays for Chicago Brother Rice, announced his commitment to Illinois on Wednesday.

Liggins took official visits to Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin in April and had previously declared others to Indiana, Kansas State, Purdue and Virginia. He’s also tweeted other Power Four offers from Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers and Vanderbilt.

Liggins announced his offer from Wisconsin in June 2024, and he’s visited Madison several times since then. That includes April’s official visit and being in Madison for one of the program’s junior day events in March.

The Badgers have more 2026 options at defensive line as three straight weekends of official visits begin at the end of the month. Three-star recruits Djidjou Bah (Germantown, Tennessee) and Arthur Scott (Streetsboro, Illinois) are slated to take official visits the weekend of May 30-June 1. Jermaine Polk (Toledo St. Francis de Sales) will be in town from June 5-8. 

Another name to watch could be four-star defensive lineman Alister Vallejo, who told Wisconsin Badgers on SI that as of May 15, there hadn’t been discussion of an official visit.

Wisconsin will continue to target Illinois recruits for the 2026 class. Players to watch include outside linebacker McHale Blade (Chicago Simeon), wide receiver Zachary Washington (Wheaton St. Francis) and safety Messiah Tilson (Rockford Guilford). Tilson took an official visit to Madison in late April.

The Badgers already have one 2026 commit from Illinois in projected outside linebacker Carmelow Reed (Olympia Fields Rich Township). The Badgers have signed six scholarship players in the last two classes from the state that have been evaluated as a four-star recruit by at least one outlet. 

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