Wisconsin football lands Arkansas transfer edge rusher Justus Boone
Former Arkansas edge rusher Justus Boone has committed to the Wisconsin Badgers out of the transfer portal.
The Wisconsin football program has added veteran help to its outside linebacker room through the transfer portal.
Former Arkansas edge rusher Justus Boone has committed to the Badgers, giving Wisconsin an experienced, physically developed defender with Power Four experience as they continue to reshape the front seven.
“On, Wisconsin ⚪️🔴,” Boone wrote.
Boone arrives in Madison with one year of eligibility remaining after a college football career that has taken place at two SEC programs. Listed at 6-foot-4, 278 pounds, he fits the bigger edge profile that Wisconsin’s defense transitioned toward last season under coordinator Mike Tressel.
A former four-star recruit out of Sumter High School in South Carolina, Boone began his college career at Florida Gators, where he spent four seasons before transferring to the Arkansas Razorbacks ahead of the 2025 campaign. Across his time at Florida (2021–24), Boone appeared in 26 games and recorded 37 total tackles with two sacks, serving primarily as a rotational edge defender while continuing to develop his game.
His role grew at Arkansas.
In 2025, Boone appeared in 12 games for the Razorbacks and made three starts, finishing the season with 28 total tackles, 13 pressures, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one pass breakup, and eight quarterback hurries.
The production reflected steady involvement in the team’s game plan rather than amassing a ton of counting stats. Still, it showed that Boone can hold up against SEC competition while providing reliable snaps on the edge.
According to Pro Football Focus, Boone logged 445 defensive snaps last season and finished with a 54.1 overall defensive grade, including a 61.1 mark as a run defender and a 55.7 grade as a pass rusher. The advanced metrics paint the picture of a player who hasn’t yet put everything together as a disruptor, but the appeal lies in the combination of size, experience, and functional strength that Wisconsin values at the position.
Over his collegiate career, Boone has appeared in 38 games, totaling 65 tackles, 34 pressures, 6.0 tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks. He’s been around high-level programs, played meaningful snaps in multiple defensive systems, and arrives as a mature, physically ready depth piece.
Boone joins a Wisconsin edge room that is currently set to return Sebastian Cheeks, Tyreese Fearbry, Nicolas Clayton, and Jaylen Williams following the departures of Mason Reiger and Darryl Peterson, who exhausted their eligibility. Adding a veteran presence to that mix gives the staff more flexibility as it looks to balance development with production.
This isn’t a splash move. Nevertheless, it’s the addition of a proven body who understands the demands of college football and can help round out Matt Mitchell’s outside linebacker room. For Wisconsin, Boone represents depth, experience, and competition at a position where those traits matter once the season wears on and stopping the run becomes make-or-break.
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