Wisconsin football loses in-state defensive lineman ahead of fall camp: Report
Middleton product Torin Pettaway has left the Wisconsin football program ahead of fall camp after redshirting last season.
The University of Wisconsin football program has lost a developmental piece along its defensive front just before fall camp.
Middleton standout Torin Pettaway is no longer with the program, according to a report from Colton Bartholomew of BadgerExtra. Pettaway decided to leave the team and was not dismissed by the staff.
No reason for his departure was disclosed.
Pettaway was entering his second season at Wisconsin after redshirting as a freshman in 2025. The 6-foot-5, 298-pound defensive lineman did not appear in a game during his first year with the Badgers.
His departure ends a brief but eventful relationship with his hometown program.
Pettaway did not begin playing organized football until his junior year at Middleton High School. Still, his combination of size, athleticism and upside quickly turned the in-state product into a Power Four recruit.
As a senior, he earned first-team All-Big Eight honors, was named the conference’s defensive end of the year and became a finalist for the Tim Krumrie Award, which recognizes the state’s top senior defensive lineman.
Pettaway initially committed to Wisconsin in March 2024 before flipping to Minnesota shortly thereafter. The Badgers staff continued recruiting him and eventually brought Pettaway back to Madison for an official visit.
He flipped his verbal commitment back to Wisconsin in June and would later sign, giving Luke Fickell and his staff a promising in-state addition along the defensive front. Pettaway also held scholarship offers from Nebraska, USC, Washington, Illinois and Rutgers during his recruitment.
Pettaway was a consensus three-star prospect whose evaluation was largely tied to what he could eventually become. He had the physical tools to play along the defensive line, but his limited experience made him a longer-term project rather than someone expected to contribute.
That remained apparent during his first year in the program.
The Badgers rebuilt much of their defensive front through the transfer portal after losing several experienced contributors from last season’s rotation. Wisconsin added transfers Hammond Russell IV, Junior Poyser, Jacob Anderson and DeNigel Cooper, creating a veteran room around returning players such as Charles Perkins, Nolan Vils, and Dillan Johnson.
Pettaway appeared likely to open fall camp with the third-team defense behind several older and more experienced options. His departure removes one developmental piece from the room, though it should not dramatically alter Wisconsin’s immediate plans along the defensive front.
The larger loss comes from what Pettaway represented.
Wisconsin’s staff took a chance on a local prospect whose best football was potentially still ahead of him. Pettaway possessed the frame and athletic ability that made him an intriguing long-term project for the Badgers, but he will now pursue that development somewhere else.
His departure also leaves Wisconsin without one of the few defensive linemen on its roster who came through the state’s high school ranks. The Badgers will begin fall camp with a defensive front that looks significantly different from the one they carried into last season, and Pettaway will no longer be part of that competition.
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