MADISON (WKOW) -- Wisconsin and Minnesota may be right next to each other, but the UW football team has a somewhat surprisingly low number of Minnesota natives. Just six players from the Gopher state are on this year's Badgers roster.
That number was almost just five -- junior defensive lineman Brendan Kelly nearly became a Gopher. He actually was a verbal commit to Minnesota for nine months. But he changed his mind. His reason... because the Gophers were really bad.
Brendan Kelly: "Nine months committed there, I think they were 1-11, and Wisconsin was almost like 11-1, and I was thinking to myself this can't be right, I can't be committed here. The coaching staff here did a great job recruiting me. I was attracted to the campus and the school and ended up being a Badger."
Kelly says he didn't grow up a Gopher fan also because they were bad.
He was actually a Notre Dame fan because he's 100% Irish. But he had no interest in playing in South Bend because he didn't like their head coach at the time Charlie Weis.
