Wisconsin Football DE Hank Weber Signs National Letter of Intent

The Wisconsin football program signed three defensive linemen in the 2024 recruiting class, and the first to commit to the Badgers was three-star defensive end, Hank Weber. 

Now, things are official on Wednesday because he signed his letter of intent to join the Wisconsin Badgers as part of the early signing period on National Signing Day. 

𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 🎵

Welcome to the Badger family, @hankweber8!#OnWisconsin x #Forever24ward pic.twitter.com/exxe8LmeGO

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) December 20, 2023

Wisconsin Football Signee: Hank Weber

Position: Defensive Line
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 260 pounds
School: Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, Tenn.)

Weber fills a position of need for UW, who were lacking talented depth on the defensive line last year and have already lost Rodas Johnson to the transfer portal this offseason. While the Badgers may dip into the portal themselves to find more d-line help, Weber is a nice long-term prospect for Wisconsin to build up.

In high school, Weber played all over the line but most of his snaps were taken at defensive end. In Wisconsin’s system he won’t be playing on the edge as much and will probably be asked to put on some weight so that he can muck things up with Big Ten offensive lines. While watching his highlights, Weber appears to have a bit of a mean streak (like all good defensive linemen do) and he likes to stop plays at, or behind, the line of scrimmage.

Recruiting

247 Composite: 3 stars; grade: .8614; No. 1,133 player in the nation; No. 123 DL; No. 37 TN

247 Sports: 3 stars; grade: 85; No. 151 DL; No. 42 TN

Rivals: 3 stars; 5.6 rating; No. 26 TN

ESPN: 3 stars; grade: 77; No. 92 DE; No. 425 Regional; No. 30 TN

On3: 3 stars; 85.38 rating; No. 1,202 in the nation; No. 107 DL; No. 39 TN

Verbally committed to Wisconsin football team on June 5, 2023

Weber was the tenth commitment in Luke Fickell’s 2024 recruiting class and gave his verbal pledge to the Badgers after a busy early June recruiting weekend in Madison. He had two more official visits for June that he ended up not taking because he was so enamored with Wisconsin and, quite frankly, who can blame him?

UW beat out Vanderbilt and North Carolina for Weber’s services, but the defensive line commit had a whole host of other offers including from: Arkansas State, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Liberty, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Purdue, Virginia Tech, and others.

had a great home visit! huge thank you for taking time to visit! @G_Scruggs @BadgerFootball #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/LotzJDdIhB

— hank weber (@hankweber8) December 4, 2023

He also took visits to Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Tennessee, but didn’t receive an offer from any of them. Defensive line coach Greg Scruggs was the lead recruiter for Weber and, presumably, defensive coordinator Mike Tressel was involved as well.