Wisconsin has dipped into Texas to snag a commitment from a big bodied interior defensive line prospect.

Denton (Texas) Guyer three-star defensive tackle Xavier Ukponu has announced his commitment to the Badger on Monday morning.

Ukponu, 6-foot-3, 300 pounds is the first interior defensive line prospect of Wisconsin's 2025 haul. He joins three defensive ends in the now 22 man haul.

The newest pledge broke down his commitment with Rivals.

For some Wisconsin fans, they may not yet be familiar with Ukponu. He and the Badgers have not always been linked together in the public eye. Ukponu acknowledges that there were certainly other programs in play for him over time, but that the Badgers always have a quieter, but consistent program.

"They've always been there in the background. When I opened everything back up, they just kept applying, like they kept talking to me and then I was like, 'okay, I'm gonna go down to visit and see what this all about'. And then I visited, and it was not what I expected at all. It's really nice down there and also it's a new head coach in coach (Luke) Fickell, so it is a great coach and the program is very stable. He's really big on developing guys and he played d-line, so he's really big on his defensive line in the trenches, so it felt like a good program for me."

Ukponu took his first visit to Madison just one week ago. As he said just before, that visit completely surprised him. He was also fond of what the staff had to tell him about his opportunities in their program.

"They told me that that they hadn't really had a guy like me before and that I could really make an impact for them in the trenches. They need big body and my abilities to win the big games and they see me being able to make a big impact for them and that if I want to play early, it's all in my hands that there's opportunity here for me to play early."

One of the current Wisconsin commits in Mason Pose is actually one of the primary reasons Ukponu is committing as well.

"We've always talked about going to college together, just never knew how that was gonna work out, but he told me that they're trying to build something special and that coach Fickell is a great head coach. They really emphasize the trenches in the program and that would really suit my ability. So I just needed to go and see it for myself and see if it's something I want to be a part of."