that. They've heard all the words — like per- sistence — they just have to put it into ac- tion.''
Borland will commit to between three and
five speaking engagements each summer. For instance, he spoke at a football camp in Platteville, Wis., with Allen and former UW linebacker Louis Nzegwu, a Platteville na- tive. "Every town in Wisconsin seems to be famous for something,'' Borland said after- ward.
He was not speaking to Nzegwu as much
as he was to the giant "M'' — 241 feet by 214 feet — that adorns Platte Mound just out- side of town and reflects the mining history of the area. He also pointed out that Ethan Hemer's hometown of Medford is famous for Tombstone Pizza. "Every town seems to have a niche,'' Bor- land reiterated. Does that also apply to his hometown of Kettering, Ohio? "It would be the automatic ignition starter, which is kind of a boring thing to be famous for,'' Borland said sheep- ishly of Kettering, a Dayton suburb. "The town was named after Charles F. Kettering, who invented the starter.''
Maybe it's only appropriate then that Borland has been a self-starter — athleti- cally —-regardless of the competition, or the stakes. At a recent team outing, Borland and fullback Derek Watt partnered up in a game of Kan-Jam; flinging discs or Frisbees at slotted containers.
"We played until dark,'' he said. Like everything else he takes on, Borland was very good at it; a natural. Admittedly, he could make a game out of "shooting trash into a basket.'' Grinning from ear to ear, he confessed, "I'm like a little kid with that stuff.'' Borland plays college football — a big boy game — with that same innocence. It's no coincidence that London Fletcher has made a pro career out of doing the same thing.
38 » VARSITY SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
