The Badgers will select Cooper Catalano as the 2025 Wisconsin senior linebacker of the year.

Wisconsin Class of 2025 linebacker Cooper Catalano was named Wednesday as the 2024 John Anderson Award recipient.

This award is presented annually to Wisconsin’s most outstanding senior linebacker. Catalano, who committed to the UW program nearly a year ago, was the obvious choice for the honor.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound punter recorded 178 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, one fumble recovery, three forced tackles and three interceptions for Germantown High School this season. On top of that, he became Wisconsin’s all-time leader in tackles in late September after recording the program’s No. 463 tackle.

From there, he added over 100 more tackles to his total.

247Sports ranks Catalano as the No. 894 recruit, No. 92 linebacker and No. 7 recruit out of Wisconsin in the 2025 class. Before finalizing his decision, he received offers from states such as Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Michigan. join the Badgers.

https://twitter.com/travisWSN/status/1859320897540079868

In addition to Catalano, two other linebackers in the 2025 class committed to Wisconsin in four-star Mason Posa and three-star Samuel Lateju.

The award is named in honor of John Anderson, a former Waukesha South star in the 1970s who became the Green Bay Packers’ all-time leader in tackles before his retirement in 1989.