“It speaks volumes. Last year we put more players in the NFL than anyone in college football,” Wisconsin Head Coach Bret Bielema said following the Badgers spring game.
“I thought it was pretty cool this year we had six players through six rounds. Our kids are excited for it, it’s definitely a great pat on the back for our program, I believe we’ll probably have another at least six sign as free agents, so we’ll probably have 12-14 more guys go to the NFL,” he continued.
That’s right Wisconsin had 6 guys taken through six rounds of the NFL Draft on Saturday. One in each round. If only they had a seventh in the seven round- it would have been a perfect seven for seven.
Still 6 for 6 is almost unheard of.
OG Kevin Zeitler went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round, C Peter Konz went to the Atlanta Falcons in the second, QB Russell Wilson to the Seattle Seahawks in the third, WR Nick Toon in the fourth to the New Orleans Saints, FB Bradie Ewing joins Konz in Atlanta in the fifth, P Brad Nortman to Carolina in the sixth.
The six is most in the big ten and tied for fourth in the country.
The Falcons called Bielema to check on Konz and the Seahawks also phoned the coach to get more info on Wilson. There was a special video message from Wilson on the jumbo tron today at Camp Randall, mentioning the draft. The few thousand in attendance at the spring game (it was a cold, dreary day in Madison and that hurt attendance) roared loudly.
“All of a sudden, I’m sitting there having dinner and I see Russell pop up and I don’t know if I’ve ever been that excited for a kid with everything he’s battled through and endured, and the decisions he’s made to get to where he is today,” Bielema said.
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