The Big Ten Media Days kick off today at 10 AM CST on the Big Ten Network! Considered to be the unofficial start to the Big Ten football season, the meetings in Chicago will feature press conferences by all of the head coaches, including Wisconsin's Bret Bielema. Several players from each school will also field questions from the media and fans. In case you need a refresher, the players representing Wisconsin will be junior running back John Clay, senior quarterback Scott Tolzien, and senior safety Jay Valai.
Coach Bielema will get the ball rolling for the coaches press conference at 10 o'clock, and will get around 15 minutes to address the media before giving way to Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald. While UW's student athletes will have to wait until Tuesday to formally meet the media, all three representatives will be participating in a live chat at 12:30 on Monday through UWBadgers.com. The live chat will last for a half hour, and you can submit your questions through email if you cannot participate in the live event.
You can follow all the action right here on Bucky's 5th Quarter as Adam Hoge will be in Chicago covering the event. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @B5Q and @AdamHoge670 for up to the second updates!
More Badger news after the jump!
Rittenberg also has a piece up about sophomore linebacker Chris Borland. He tells Rittenberg that he feels ready to go for fall camp after having surgery on his shoulder during the off-season.
Wisconsin has been named a Top-10 football team, according to NBCsports.com via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Wisconsin is the second highest ranked Big Ten team, following the Ohio State Buckeyes who are ranked at #2.
Madison.com will be running a ten part series previewing the Badger football season. The first part in the series covered Wisconsin's quarterbacks, with today's edition giving a run-down of the running backs.
Former Badger and Madison resident Adam Burish will be bringing the Stanley Cup to his home town on August 18th. There will be a pubic showing at the Kohl Center from 10 AM to noon, with photo and autograph opportunities.
On the recruiting trail, the Badgers got another commitment for their 2011 class. Makinton Dorleant, a three-star safety from Florida, recently gave an oral commitment to come to Wisconsin for college. Dorleant was also recruited by Maryland, West Virginia, and Texas Tech. Dorleant is the eighth verbal commitment to the Badger's 2011 class.
33 days until kickoff!