Borland and Konz named to Freshman All-America Team
December 16, 2009 | Football
Dec. 16, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- True freshman linebacker Chris Borland and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Peter Konz have been named to the Sporting News’ Freshman All-America Team. Both players were also named to the outlet’s Big Ten All-Freshman Team, along with redshirt freshman linebacker Mike Taylor.
Wisconsin joins Stanford as the only schools with two players on the All-America Team.
Borland, who was honored by the Big Ten as its Freshman of the Year, was also selected by the Sporting News as its Freshman of the Year within the conference.
A native of Kettering, Ohio, Borland has played in all 12 games this season for the Badgers and has made five starts. He led the Badgers in tackles during the Big Ten season with 46, despite starting just the last four games. He tied for the conference lead with three fumble recoveries and tied for second in the league with five forced fumbles. That makes him just the third player in UW history with at least three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries in the same season. He ranks fourth on the team with 52 tackles on the year and also has 8.5 tackles for loss and four sacks.
Konz made his Badger debut earlier this season when he filled in at center when fellow freshman Travis Frederick went down with an injury. Konz held on to the starting position for the next nine games before missing the team’s regular season finale at Hawaii with an injury. As a team, Wisconsin leads the Big Ten in scoring offense (32.8 points per game), rushing offense (206.7 yards per game) and total offense (415.8 yards per game). He has helped pave the way for John Clay, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Clay leads the conference with 116.3 rushing yards per game.
Taylor started the first seven games of the season before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Iowa. Heading into that game, Taylor was leading the team with 43 tackles, was second with 6.5 TFLs and also had one interception. On the year, the Ashwaubenon, Wis., native also tallied one sack, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and two passes defended.
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Karl Anderson
UW Athletic Communications
