UW football: Badgers snag pair of out-of-state recruits

Growing up a University of Wisconsin football fan in Ohio, Chris Borland always wanted to play for the Badgers.

"I made up my mind a long time ago, if I got an offer from every school in the country, I'd go to Wisconsin," Borland said.

So when the offer from the Badgers came on Tuesday, it didn't take him long to jump at it.

Borland, from Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering, Ohio, is one of two players to recently give oral commitments to the Badgers.

He is joined by offensive tackle Jon Lechner from Omaha (Neb.) Creighton Prep. Borland's grandfather attended UW and his father lived in Madison until he was about 18.

"We've been big Badgers fans our whole lives," Borland said. "They were good in the late '90s. We watched those games, it was a lot of fun."

When Borland, 6-foot, 213 pounds, attended the UW camp earlier this week, he thought his chances of getting an offer were 25 percent or less.

But UW coach Bret Bielema was impressed with Borland's versatility and gave him his first offer. Borland played outside linebacker, a little safety during 7-on-7 drills, and also ran pass routes from the fullback, halfback and H-back positions at camp. He also punted and kicked field goals.

Alter used a strict two-platoon system last year and Borland played running back, wide receiver, punter and returned kicks.

"Coach Bielema said he sees my natural position as an outside linebacker," Borland said. "He said my versatility is a big thing and he's going to look at me at different spots. Truly, they don't know what they want to do with me yet. They just want to get me in their program and work hard and go from there."

This year, he likely will be his prep team's featured running back and also play linebacker, a position he never has played in a game.

"As far as his abilities, he's an aggressive kid," Alter football coach Ed Domsitz said. "I think he's going to be an amazing linebacker. There were a number of people who thought we should have played him some at linebacker last year. We needed him in the backfield."

Borland said he has only punted for a year and believes he could do that at the collegiate level, which makes him an even more intriguing prospect.

"That could open up a spot for another position player, instead of having to offer a punter," he said.

At a team camp last week in Kentucky, Domsitz said Borland was averaging in excess of 40 yards per punt, "with great hang time."

"I'm inconsistent right now," Borland said. "One out of every four will be a collegiate punt. The other ones are good high school punts. If I just work on it over the summer, by this time next year, I could be good enough to be a good punter at that level."

Lechner, 6-6, 315 pounds, also had offers from Nebraska, Iowa State and Buffalo. The Badgers now have eight known commitments.