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While most of us get caught up in the on-field achievements of the UW athletic program, the individuals who put their heart and soul into their respective sports are first and foremost, or at least should be, student-athletes. The Badgers contingency of student-athletes held up their end of the bargain in the classroom. The women's tennis, women's golf, and men's cross country all yielded a perfect APR score, while Gary Andersen's squad boasted the second-best APR in the football conference with a score of 989. Bo Ryan's squad had a slight decrease in its APR, but still scored a 975.
It's always a treat when past UW athletes can share their experiences in the red and white uniform as well as their experiences outside the uniform. Fortunately, the Internet provided us with two of them, both with Fox Sports Wisconsin. Mike Brusewitz talks about his playing style, most notably an energetic one, and how it sometimes struggled to translate to professional basketball. Plus, Beau Allen writes about playing the waiting game on Saturday before he received the phone call from the Philadelphia Eagles.
It has been reported for the past week, but Gary Andersen and the football program made it official by announcing the hire of director of football operations Jason Thomas. Not surprisingly, Thomas worked Andersen at Utah State. The basketball team is still waiting on hiring a director of basketball operations, but remember there is a one-month waiting period between the time the job is posted by the UW Human Relations Director and when head coach Bo Ryan can officially announce the hire.
Andersen himself faces high expectations for his second season in Madison. 247 Sports has the Badgers at No. 12 in its early top 25 for the 2014-15 season. Wisconsin's opening opponent, LSU, comes in at No. 11.
The Wisconsin-Seattle NFL connection continues as Brendan Kelly's agent told Fox Sports Wisconsin the former defensive end has an upcoming tryout with the Seahawks.
Lots of recruiting updates today -- 2015 wide receiver Jalen Christian (Demascus High School, Maryland) will choose between Maryland, South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin and West Virginia on Thursday. With quarterbacks committed for 2014 and 2015, Andersen offered a scholarship to 2016 quarterback Malik Henry. The California native already holds scholarship offers from Florida State, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Tennessee, Nebraska, UCLA and USC. The Badgers offered two more commits for 2016 in Gulliver High School defensive end Charles Callender and athlete Dontay Mayfield. Finally, Wisconsin extended a scholarship offer to class of 2016 safety Anthony Gaiter IV.
Quick Hitters
Ryan will serve as the honorary chairman for the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Museum of Valor that will honor and raise money for Wisconsin law enforcement. The museum is expected to be open within the next two years.
As the softball program gets ready for Friday's first-round NCAA tournament action, the team got an extra boost of confidence by checking in at No. 25 on ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.
Video of the Day
As I get ready to graduate on Saturday, it's hard to not remember one of the best games I ever went to: then-No.1 Ohio State vs then-No.18 Wisconsin on Oct. 16, 2010. The rest, well, is history in my book. Let the goosebumps ensue.