MADISON – Jack Tabbert’s emotions were running high June 8.
Early in the afternoon the football standout from Pewaukee High School received a call from Wisconsin offensive line coach Eric Mateos. Correcttion, Tabbert got THE call from Mateos.
The Badgers were offering a scholarship and of course the guy who dreamed of being a Wisconsin offensive lineman since he was 4 years old took it
“Honestly, best news of my life,” Tabbert said.
Tabbert needed to talk with his parents about the offer, but it was pretty much a slam dunk he would accept. He announced his commitment later that evening on X.
Tabbert is the 21st commitment to UW’s 2027 class and the 10th in-state player. Five of those players are offensive linemen, four of whom hail from the Milwaukee area.
Most of those recruits were targeted early by the UW staff and had offers in hand for months. That wasn’t the case for Tabbert. His story is about being presented with a challenge and meeting it.
Essentially Mateos told Tabbert that if he wanted to be a Wisconsin offensive lineman to come to camp and show him. Sunday Tabbert showed up to UW’s Big Man Showcase and showed out.
“Yesterday after the camp we talked for a little bit,” Tabbert said. “The offer didn’t come, but today he called me at about 1 p.m. and he gave me the good news.”
In addition to talking over matter with his parents, he had to decommit from North Dakota State, a program he committed to March 28.
“I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to risk my NDSU scholarship to go and just maybe camp at Wisconsin and nothing come of it,” Tabbert said. “But through the whole recruiting process I’ve told myself that I’ve got to bet on myself and that’s in the back of my head, to bet on myself.”
Though Tabbert is new to commit, he knows the other linemen in the class. He works out with Germantown’s Cole Reiter and Sussex Hamilton’s Hunter and Reece Mallinger at Trench Training in Oconomowoc. He linked with Verona’s Ethan McIntosh at Under Armour Next Camp in Chicago last month.
Tabbert, who is 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, was a first-team all-Classic 8 Conference selecton as a guard for Pewaukee but projects as a center for Wisconsin.
He had offers from North Dakota State, Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Liberty, New Mexico, Harvard, North Dakota, South Dakota and Yale.
Rivals gives him three stars as a prospect. 247sports and ESPN have not rated him yet.
In committing to UW, he follows in the footsteps of notable Badgers from Pewaukee such as the Watt brothers and Chris McIntosh.
“J.J. went to Wisconsin. T.J. went to Wisconsin. Those are some of my all time NFL favorites,” Tabbert said of the Watts. “I want to be the next one that’s remembered as the Pewaukee player that went to Wisconsin and made a statement.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Becoming a Wisconsin Badger is dream come true for Pewaukee O-lineman
Reporting by Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
