While the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team has been getting national attention with their National Championship berth last night, their football team is a perennial Top 25 program as well. As of January, a total of 33 former Badgers were on NFL rosters, two of which were a part of the Green Bay Packers.
Backup quarterback Scott Tolzien and wide receiver Jared Abbrederis are the lone Badgers currently in Green Bay. While playing in Madison, the two were both big contributors on the offensive side of the ball, but only overlapped briefly during the 2010 season.
Over his three years with the team, Tolzien really only saw playing time during his junior and senior seasons. Over that span he started 26 games and threw for 5,164 yards, 32 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He led the Badgers to a 20-14 win in the Champs Sports Bowl over Miami following the 2009 season, but lost in the Rose Bowl 21-19 to TCU in 2010. Tolzien also decimated the Wisconsin single-season record for passing completion in his senior season, along with winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Here are his career stats:
Abbrederis was an impact player during his four years in a Badger uniform. Over his career, Abbrederis totaled 202 receptions, 3,140 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns. On top of his receiving stats, he also tallied 291 rushing yards (2 TD)as well as 1,387 return yards (1 punt return TD).
Following the 2013 season, Abbrederis was awarded the Burlsworth Trophy as the nation’s most outstanding player to have begun their college career as a walk-on. He also finished his Wisconsin career tied for the school’s all-time receptions record.
Despite the disappointing finish to last night’s NCAA Championship game, the Badgers still had lots of love from their alumni and others around the NFL. Here are some of their tweets:
And J.J. Watt and Caroline Wozniaki are apparently a thing now?
