2020 LB Nick Herbig verbally commits to Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers football team received some good news on Monday evening when 2020 linebacker Nick Herbig verbally committed to the team. Herbig plays his high school football for St. Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the ninth hard commit for the Badgers in the 2020 cycle and the second linebacker commit, joining Waukesha, Wis.’s Cole Dakovich.

Herbig is rated as a four-star by 247Sports, Rivals and the 247Sports Composite. 247Sports lists him as the seventh best outside linebacker and the 102nd best player in the nation while Rivals has him as the 20th best OLB and 232nd best player in the nation. Either way, it would appear the Badgers are getting a potential difference maker here and one who is already receiving his share of accolades.

Being a Hawaii kid, Herbig obviously had a ton of offers from Pac-12 and other west coast schools. Washington, Cal, Stanford, UCLA and Southern Cal were all high on Herbig’s list, with Stanford potentially holding a trump card since Nick’s older brother, Nate, was a two-time all-conference selection for the Cardinal. Oklahoma, Virginia, Tennessee, Nebraska, Hawaii and Boise State all offered Herbig as well. But, as a visit to Madison often does, he was swayed to head east by his great official visit.

At 6’2” and 215 lbs., Herbig has some room to add muscle without sacrificing speed, making him an ideal OLB in Jim Leonhard’s attacking defense. Our very own Owen Riese looked at his Hudl film and said “he can #bend as a pass rusher, which is extremely intriguing and he has experience in coverage underneath zones, which he’ll be asked to do at UW.” Owen went on to add, “he played against a lot of spread teams in Hawaii so I’m curious how he’ll hold up as a run defender.”