Wisconsin football: checking in on former Badgers

Sometimes things don’t work out for every player who decides to become a member of the Wisconsin Badgers football team. That doesn’t mean we don’t want them to do well after they leave Madison, but it does mean that sometimes we lose track of them. Recently, two former Badgers made decisions about their playing careers that we wanted to update you on.

Former running back Bradrick Shaw is now a member of the California Golden Bears after graduating from Wisconsin. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility and will be immediately eligible to play for Cal.

The injury prone Shaw, who has hopefully put that behind him, will be squarely in the mix for backup running back carries with the possibility of starting if he shows out in fall camp, according to our friends at California Golden Blogs. We wish Shaw well and hopefully we’ll see him at the Rose Bowl in January.

Former Wisconsin (and Alabama) linebacker Christian Bell decided to graduate transfer to the Illinois Fighting Illini back at the beginning of March. He had been buried on the depth chart in Madison, and while he was in line for more reps this year, he probably wasn’t going to be a starter.

On Monday morning, Bell announced that he would be decommitting from Illinois due to “a uncertain situation” and would be opening his recruitment back up. Bell was expected to compete for playing time as a defensive end in Champaign but he decided that he’d be better served going elsewhere.