Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 74, Tom Burke
By Jim Oxley
As the countdown to the first Wisconsin football game of the season continues, Badger of Honor is taking a look at Badgers by the numbers, checking in on a different Badger or Badgers players who wore the number corresponding with the remaining days until the Badgers head to Texas to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday, Sept. 5.
Next up in our countdown, signifying 74 days until college football is back, is defensive end Tom Burke.
Wisconsin Badgers
Burke spent 1995-1998 tearing up opposing Big Ten offenses. His name is carved into the UW record book.
He still holds the Wisconsin record for most tackles for a loss in a single season, totaling 31 in 1998. He also holds the Badgers record with 22 total sacks in the 1998 season.
He’s second on the all-time Wisconsin Badgers sack total list with 32 QB sacks (one behind school leader Tarek Saleh), and is third all time in Wisconsin history with 54 career tackles for a loss. He’s also tied with a slew of Badgers for sixth all-time with 4 career forced fumbles, and is tied for seventh all time with a pair of blocked kicks in his career.
He had a 5-sack game against Iowa in 1998, and was UW’s tackle leader in 1997 (86 total) and 1998 (100 total).
In 1998 he was named a unanimous consensus All-American, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, and a Football News Player of the Year semi-finalist.
Following his collegiate career, Burke was the 83rd overall selection (third round) in the 1999 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
He played four seasons in the NFL with the Cardinals, totaling 4.5 sacks and 49 tackles in 36 games (12 starts) over the course of his career.
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- Wisconsin Badgers Football: Fantasy football options in 2018
Who wore No. 74 first?
• Quarterback George Denhart first wore No. 74 for the Badgers in 1932.
Who wears No. 74 now?
• Redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Hayden Biegel currently wears No. 74 for the Badgers. Biegel is one of the possible players to start in Rob Havenstein‘s old right tackle spot in the 2015-16 season.
Stay tuned to Badger of Honor as we continue our daily countdown in preparation of the season opener against Alabama.
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