CHRIS BORLAND & MIKE TAYLOR C
hris Borland has always had to overcome the labels attached to under- sized players, the stereotyping. But now he was doing it to himself and UW teammate Mike Taylor; he was labeling. "Linebacker is a special position,'' Borland said. "Not a lot of guys
are wired to play linebacker. You have to be tough. You have to play through pain. You have to be versatile.'' You also have to be born with certain instincts. Ashwaubenon High
School coach Ken Golomski once said of Taylor, "He came out of the womb with 'line- backer' stamped on his forehead.'' Taylor was so unlike Borland, who played almost exclusively on offense in high school
and drew little or no interest from BCS programs because the recruiters didn't feel like he had the measurables. So despite approaching the linebacker position from different paths, their careers have intersected at a point this season where they've become the leading tacklers in the Big Ten.
Taylor has 137 tackles, Borland has 131. UW safety Aaron Henry is a distant third on the team with 62 tackles. Linebacker Brendan Lynch and strong safety
Reggie Holt make-up the only other one-two punch in Badger history to have comparable numbers. In 1991, Holt had 144 tackles and Lynch had 131.
Here's more context. At Ohio State, Taylor had 22 tackles; the high
mark in the Big Ten this season (fifth highest nationally) and most by a UW player since drop linebacker Bob Adamov had 23 against Purdue in 1998.
Through 13 games, Borland has 18 tackles for
loss; the most ever by a UW linebacker and the most by a middle linebacker in college football this season. Solidifying their bond has been the fact that
both have dealt with season-ending injuries. Taylor (knee) played in only seven games in 2009; Borland (shoulder) played in only two games in 2010. When Taylor got hurt, Borland replaced him
20 ยป VARSITY DECEMBER 29, 2011
and was the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year.
Given their cir- cumstances, you'd expect them to be competitive with each other. "I'd say so,'' said
Taylor, a fourth-year junior from Ash- waubenon. "Yeah, I think so,''
"It's the scheme. We've been put in positions to make plays," Bor- land said. "Our job is to flow and get to the ball. That's all it has been.''
agreed Borland, a third-year sopho- more from Kettering, Ohio.
That's it? "We're not in your
face or overbearing with it,'' Borland said. "But I think both of us want to beat out the other (for tack-
