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Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 5, Brooks Bollinger

By Jim Oxley

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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 5 days until college football is back, is Brooks Bollinger.

A Badgers quarterback from 1999-2002, Bollinger has seen the field of play more than any other Badgers player in school history. He owns the school record with 1,289 plays over the course of his career. That’s 69 plays more than Ron Dayne and more than 100 more than Darrell Bevell, John Stocco and Mike Samuel.

Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers /

Wisconsin Badgers

That playing time was built up after four years as the Wisconsin starter from 1999-2002. He racked up plenty of records over that time.

Bollinger trails only Darrell Bevell and John Stocco for third all time in school history with 5,627 career passing yards. His 771 pass attempts and 414 completions are both third-best in school history, as are his 38 touchdown passes (tied with Randy Wright).

A strong rusher as well as a passer, Bollinger was 12th in the school record books with 1,767 career rushing yards. Given the strong running backs since the late 1990s he’s now closer to No. 20 on the list, but it’s an impressive feat for the quarterback. He also scored 26 rushing touchdowns in his career, a top-10 number in the record books, and has four career 100-yard rushing games.

Bollinger’s combined totals of 7,394 combined passing and rushing yards and 64 total touchdowns are the second and third best career marks in school history, respectively.

Bollinger was the Big Ten Rookie of the Year in 1999, and was a team captain in both 2001 and 2002. He was named the quarterback of the All-Alvarez team.

Bollinger was a sixth round draft pick in the 2003 NFL Draft but the New York Jets, selection no. 200 overall. He played in New York from 2003-2005, was with the Vikings from 2006-2007, the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 and the Detroit Lions in 2009.

He most recently played for the Florida Tuskers of the UFL in 2009-2010.

Who wore No. 5 first?

• Center Aloeis Liethan first wore No. 5 for the Badgers in 1931.

Who wears No. 5 now?

• Cornerback Darius Hillary currently wears No. 5 on defense for the Badgers. Hillary, a senior, is expected to be a steady force in the badgers defensive backfield this season.

Who wore No. 5 last?

• Wisconsin quarterback-turned-safety-turned-wide receiver Tanner McEvoy last wore No. 5 a season ago, but he has switched jerseys to No. 3 for the upcoming season so he doesn’t conflict with Hillary when he plays on defense.

Stay tuned to Badger of Honor as we continue our daily countdown in preparation of the season opener against Alabama.

Next: Wisconsin Football Experience

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