Day 2 Recap: Frosh LB Borland getting reps with No. 2 defense

Practice Schedule:
Day 2: The Badgers practiced in shorts and helmets Tuesday at 3:50 p.m.
Day 3: The players take the field Wednesday with shoulder pads on, but still can't practice in full pads until the fifth practice, which takes place Friday. Practice time is once again 3:50. 

Fall practice report No. 2 - UWBadgers.com
The media can't get inside practice until next Monday, which means these practice reports are going to be the best way to figure out what happens on the field. Hopefully our friends Brian Lucas, Karl Anderson and Betsy Golomski  in Athletic Communications don't make too much stuff up (just kidding guys!).

Bret Bielema's Twitter
Time for the daily Twitter update from Coach B:

Tuesday Morning: "Day 2. We by NCAA rules can be in hel.ets only again today. We will review and correct issues from prac #1 in meetings and a walk through."

After practice: "Practice #2 is done and our guys are excited to put the pads on with practice #3. We were able to have a great work day and stayed healthy!"

Clay among College Football News' top running backs
This might surprise some, but not me. Collegefootballnews.com lists John Clay among their top ten running backs in the country. I'm not sure I know enough about all the running backs out there to say he is in the top ten, but I will say Clay deserves all of the praise he is already getting. I'm expecting a huge breakout season for the sophomore running back -- and I mean huge. Like 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns big. Stay healthy my friend.

What's hot (and not) in college football for 2009 - ESPN
Mark Schlabach says Bret Bielema is "among the coaches who could really use big seasons to save their jobs." Again, Bielema's not going anywhere!

Gilreath hopes to kick-start Badgers' return game - JSOnline
There's no doubt the kickoff-return unit is a key to this season and Jeff Potrykus has a great story on David Gilreath and the special teams unit.

Freshman linebacker is making a splash - JSOnline
Wisconsin freshman linebacker Chris Borland is among a number of freshmen making an early impact in camp. Why is it such a big deal? Because he's getting a ton of snaps at middle linebacker with the No. 2 defense and the UW linebacking corp. badly needs a young guy like Borland to step up and make an impact this season.

Youngsters fill offensive line - BadgerBeat.com
Tom Mulhern has a follow-up story on the young guys filling in for the injured starters on the O-line.

Player of the day: Freshman WR Kraig Appleton

Not much to go off again, but apparently freshman wide receiver Kraig Appleton made a good enough catch today that his teammates called him "Ocho-uno," according to UWBadgers.com.

QB competition update: Almost zero news on the quarterbacks today, but Jon Budmayr was mentioned as the QB who threw the ball on Appleton's nice catch. Sounds like the freshman WR was covered heavily but Budmayr put the ball where only Appleton could go get it. You gotta love that freshmen tandem -- possibily for years to come.