Meet Jay Harper, one of Wisconsin football's 2024 cornerback commits

Basketball may have been Jay Harper’s first love, but his future currently involves locking down opposing offenses for the University of Wisconsin football program.
Harper, a two-sport athlete at Valley High School in Alabama, announced his verbal commitment to coach Luke Fickell and the program last month. He will leave his prep career as a champion as the Rams’ boys basketball team captured the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 5A title in March.
“We went undefeated, 33-0,” Harper said. “First time in school history that we won a basketball state championship, and they were just amazing. Like every game felt like a movie, and I'm really proud of the team and everything we accomplished.”
Here are four other things to know about Harper, including a recruiting journey whose current destination lies in Madison and how he could be utilized inside assistant Paul Haynes’ cornerback room.
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SEC and Power Five interest grows
Harper is a consensus three-star talent among the four major recruiting outlets. 247Sports evaluates him the highest as the No. 44 cornerback in the country for the 2024 class.
The recruit announced his first FBS offer from the old Alabama-Birmingham staff in August 2022. Power Five interest has surfaced since with offers from Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas A&M and West Virginia.
Uncertainty turns to faith in UW
The one program Harper did not disclose a scholarship opportunity from was UW prior to his commitment. He does not recall exactly when the Big Ten program started contacting him, but it did so via Twitter.
“I was like, ‘I don't really know about Wisconsin. … ” Harper said. “So we just got to talk, I got to do my research. They got to tell me what they run and how they use corners, and I started liking it.
“I built a good relationship with coach Haynes and coach Pat (Lambert). So we built a great relationship, and then I ended up committing.”
That offer came when he made an official visit to campus the weekend of June 9-11.
“I just had faith,” Harper said. “We were just trusting each other. They told me to come down, see that I liked it, whatever. They came down to my school, so we both showed interest in each other. Yeah, I’d say on the official visit.”
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Why Wisconsin?
Harper publicly announced his commitment on June 19, but he realized he wanted to commit during that June trip after discussing it with his family. He told Fickell the good news in a meeting as he was about to leave Madison.
“I committed to Wisconsin because I fell in love with the coaching staff,” Harper said. “I just really liked coach Fick and coach Haynes. I feel like they're gonna do great things for the program, turn it around, and they want me to come help make a difference in the program.”
Harper is one of two current 2024 commits who are projected to play cornerback for Haynes at UW along with Omillio Agard, a four-star recruit who plays for St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The two took their respective official visits on the same weekend, and Agard announced his intentions less than two weeks later on July 1.
“We had talked about it while we was up there,” Harper said. “We told them we were going to commit here.
“That’s a great person. We just clicked real fast. Someone I can see probably being roommates (with) or something. We’re just going to go out there, we’re going to compete. We’re going to make the team better.”
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A ‘utility’ player with immediate impact
Valley football coach Adam Hunter said Harper is about 6 foot and 180 pounds and has started at cornerback every season since ninth grade. The recruit is someone who can play a number of different techniques in the defensive backfield.
“We feel comfortable locking him down, playing man coverage with him,” Hunter said. “A little man, free stuff behind him. Some palms coverage, cover two. So we utilize him and use him and we feel comfortable putting him out there on that island where he locks down a receiver by himself. That allows us do a lot more defensible stuff. Put more guys in the box to stop the run when we feel comfortable locking him up man-to-man, so we use him a lot in different roles.
“He's real good with leverage, keeping things from not getting outside of him so we can roll the dice and play some stuff, some games with teams and kind of put more people in the box and lock them down with Jay out there.”
Harper receives guidance not only from his coach but his father, who is the team’s defensive coordinator. There are plans for a larger role on offense as a senior.
“We'll use him in a little slot receiver stuff,” Hunter said. “We're going to use the speed, try to get the ball in space to him a little bit, and then we've used him at punt return.
“He's returned a couple of punts for us last year for touchdowns, so we kind of use a utility player. We put him everywhere we can to keep him on the field.”
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Another versatile recruit in the secondary
Agard previously discussed how his potential role for Haynes and the cornerback room was not set in stone due to his ability to perform in multiple spots.
Harper believes he is a long corner bringing speed and ball skills, among other attributes. Just where he will line up in the defensive backfield remains uncertain.
“They see me moving all over, playing field, boundary, slot,” Harper said. “I'm underrated in the slot, I feel like, so they just see me being a versatile corner.
“Just wherever they need me to play, I can go do it.”