Ohio State football: Former Buckeye LB to help Fickell at Wisconsin
The Ohio State football program’s linebackers room has seen many former players turn coaches recently. Tuf Borland is the newest among them.
Former Ohio State football team captain and linebacker Tuf Borland will join Luke Fickell’s inaugural staff at Wisconsin. Borland will join the Badgers as a grad assistant, presumably to help coach linebackers at Camp Randall.
Borland teams up with Fickell following a brief NFL career that saw him play in a handful of games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021. Borland started at middle linebacker for the Buckeyes from 2017-2020 and registered 229 tackles and 6.5 sacks during that time period.
Unfortunately, Borland is most remembered for chasing Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith around the field during that 2020 national title game. Not Borland’s fault at all, just an inexcusable flaw in then-defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs’ game plan.
Borland coaching the Badgers is something we should keep an eye on. He was recruited to Ohio State by Fickell and coached by him for one season before taking the Cincinnati job. Borland’s father, Kyle, played at Wisconsin back in the late 70’s- early ’80s.
Boreland most certainly strikes me as a coach as he was pretty much a coach on the field during his time in Columbus. His coaches always praised him for organizing the defense on the field and that his knowledge of where everyone was supposed to line up on every play was instrumental to their success.
Next. Laurinaitis aims to be Hartline of the defense. dark
I certainly will be interested to see where Borland’s coaching career takes him, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he one day winds back up in Columbus coaching at his Alma mater. The Buckeyes will meet Wisconsin on October 28th in Madison for what should be a highly anticipated game.