A Former Badger had to quit football
The Wisconsin Badgers lost a great athlete following the 2021 season. Safety Collin Wilder had been with the program since 2016 and has had a successful career at Wisconsin. He racked up three interceptions and 32 total tackles in his senior season and had hopes of making the NFL.
According to Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wilder sustained a serious enough spinal injury against the Minnesota Gophers to make NFL teams cautious about taking a chance on the safety:
A brief but candid conversation with a specialist during a routine checkup on the spinal injury Wilder suffered in the regular-season finale at Minnesota rocked the former UW safety.
After learning Wilder was training for the draft, the physician explained the injury wouldn’t be fully healed until November and that teams likely would be scared off by the MRI.
“That kind of took me back,” Wilder said by phone Tuesday. “I said: Excuse me? That just threw me for a loop.”
Wilder went undrafted, never received a call from an NFL team offering a free-agent tryout and was left to ponder whether to train for a shot at the USFL or the XFL.
Wilder announced his retirement not long after.
Wilder is back with the team
Wisconsin Sports Heroics spoke with Wilder in June. The former Badger said at the time he was contemplating his future. Wilder talked about possibly coaching or being involved with football in the future. He also wanted to stay in shape if he got an opportunity as an athlete again.
According to Colten Bartholomew of the Wisconsin State Journal, Wilder is back with the Badgers. He traveled with the team to East Lansing as the Badgers play the Michigan State Spartans Saturday.
Just confirmed with #Badgers official that former safety Collin Wilder is back with the program. Traveled with the team this week.
— Colten Bartholomew (@CBartWSJ) October 15, 2022
It’s currently unclear what his official capacity is with the team.
Role was unspecified. Will be looking into it further.
— Colten Bartholomew (@CBartWSJ) October 15, 2022
Hopefully, Wilder will have a successful career in football, especially with the Badgers.
