The 2023 college football season is on the horizon and Luke Fickell and his Badgers are now 46 days away from their opener versus Buffalo on Sept. 2. As we count down, former Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis gives the number 46 a special meaning.
During his second season with the Badgers, Abbrederis became a household name in Madison and across the state of Wisconsin, recording 55 catches for 933 yards and eight scores over 14 games in 2011.
The final contest of the year is where he put on a show, compiling 346 all-purpose yards in the Badgers’ 45-38 loss to the Oregon Ducks in the 2012 Rose Bowl.
Abbrederis caught four passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, but his special-teams production was just as impressive. He returned a total of six kickoffs for 201 yards, including a 60-yarder, which good for an average of 25.1 yards per attempt. He also added 26 more yards on three punt returns.
At the time, the 346 yards were second only to Ron Dayne’s 347 he produced against Hawaii in 1996 and it currently stands as the third highest total in program history with Melvin Gordon’s 408-yard performance versus Nebraska (2014) on top.
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