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University of Wisconsin redshirt junior T.J. Watt, a tight end at the time, chuckled when coach Paul Chryst asked if he had ever thought about playing defense. The two were sitting in the back of the room during a July team meeting in 2015 when Chryst brought up the subject, and the coach wanted to plant the idea in Watt’s head that he could play outside linebacker.

Watt spoke with family members that night, including brother J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year as a defensive end for the Houston Texans. He spent he rest of the night perusing YouTube for highlights of his older brother along with outside linebackers like Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor and Von Miller of the Denver Broncos.

It didn’t take much to get him excited about a switch.

“I just fell in love with the mentality,” Watt said. "Getting after the ball, making plays. I came back the next day and told Coach Chryst, ‘Let’s do it.’ It’s been a heck of a year since then."

Just 14 months later, Watt has developed into one of the Badgers’ best defensive players.

He leads the Big Ten and ties for seventh nationally with 4.5 sacks through the season’s first four weeks and impressed just as much against the run, if not more so.