Joe Schobert has himself a celebrity fan.

The Badger linebacker, who quickly became a household name in the first half of the season, was the subject at the end of Houston Texans’ media availability on Wednesday. Former Wisconsin walk-on star J.J. Watt was asked about the fact that a couple of B1G walk-ons — Penn State’s Carl Nassib and Schobert — are leading the nation in sacks.

Watt, of course, showed his fellow Badger plenty of love.

“I think Schobert has been playing unbelievable for Wisconsin,” Watt said on Wednesday. “And it’s really cool to see walk-ons doing so well, especially knowing what that’s like because you go through a lot.”

Schobert has been unbelievable. Through just six games, he has nine sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries and four forced fumbles.

“The kid is playing out of his mind right now,” Watt said.

Watt has had the chance to watch plenty of Schobert and the dominant Badger defense.

Besides rooting for his alma mater’s star player, Watt has two other reasons to tune into Wisconsin football every week.

“My youngest brother (T.J.) is getting snaps on the D-Line now with Schobert and (Vince) Biegel and those guys so it’s a lot of fun to watch every single week, especially for me,” Watt said. “It’s super special because I have a brother on offense (Derek) and a brother on defense. It’s hard to explain how proud that makes me. It’s really cool.”

Watt has an appreciation for both sides of the ball because he was a tight end at Central Michigan. It wasn’t until he transferred to Wisconsin that he made the full-time switch to defensive end.

He knew what it was like to try and earn his place on the Badger defense as a walk-on. Schobert, Watt said, has that same chip on his shoulder.

After one game, Watt even made it a point to text his brother to tell him about how big of a fan he was of Schobert.

“Just watching them play, it’s a whole lot of fun because that kid’s flying around and he’s a walk-on,” Watt said. “There’s plenty of good stories out there like that with kids. You can do it, it’s just a matter of how hard you’re willing to work.”