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Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 1, Brandon Williams and Nick Toon

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.

We’re here. One day away.

Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers /

Wisconsin Badgers

Tomorrow the Badgers hit the field to open the 2015 season, and to celebrate, we look back to two of the best Badgers to ever sport a No. 1 on their jerseys, wide receivers Brandon Williams and Nick Toon.

Brandon Williams

Williams caught more passes than any other Badger in the school’s history outside of Jared Abbrederis, who joins him atop the list with 202 career receptions. From 2002 to 2005, Williams was a steady force at the receiver position.

Williams is third all time in the UW record books with 2,924 career reception yards, trailing only Lee Evans and Abbrederis. Williams, Evans and Abbrederis are the only three Badgers in school history to post 1,000-yard seasons (Evans did it twice).

Also an established return man, Williams averaged 13.7 yards per punt return during his time at UW and is second in school history with 2,349 kick return yards. He has 2,810 total career return yards, and adding his receiving yards and just over 100 rushing yards, Williams is second all time in school history with 5,852 all-purpose yards, trailing only Ron Dayne.

Williams was a second team All-American in 2005, and was UW’s special teams player of the year in 2005 as well.

Nick Toon

Trailing just behind Williams in numerous receiving records is Nick Toon, who spent 2008-2011 at UW. The son of famed alum Al Toon, the younger Toon 2,447 career reception yards, the fourth best total in school history (His dad’s 2,103 was close behind in sixth all-time).

Toon is sixth all-time at UW with 18 career touchdowns, and his 2011 season total of 926 total reception yards is the seventh-best single-season performance in school history. He caught 64 passes that year, the fourth best single-season total at UW. His 10 touchdowns in 2011 represents the second-best scoring performance from a UW receiver.

Who wore No. 1 first?

• Tackle Harold Smith was the first Badgers player to wear No. 1 in 1931.

Who wears No. 1 now?

• No Badgers player currently wears No. 1.

Who wore No. 1 last?

• Wide receiver A.J. Jordan was the last player to wear No. 1 for the Badgers in 2014. He will wear No. 82 this season for Wisconsin.

Next: Wisconsin Football Experience

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