Make no mistake, T.J. Bollers still regards Minnesota as a rival, even if he doesn’t play for the University of Wisconsin football program anymore.
Bollers and his new school, California, held the Gophers to 335 total yards in a 27-14 home win on Sept. 13. He finished with four tackles in the win and has contributed on the Golden Bears defensive line after transferring from Wisconsin in spring 2024.
“Obviously going to Wisconsin and then transferring out, right, you never really lose that rivalry sense, or that sense of like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go, we’re playing Minnesota again,’” Bollers said. “That burning feeling in your chest, it was still there and it got me juiced up for the game.
“I was excited. I was able to be a captain … against the rival. And so going out there and being like, ‘Oh yeah. Here we go again, man. And this time, I'm actually going to do something about it. This time, man, I'm playing on the defense. I'm going to play significant snaps.’ And yeah, it was still a lot of rivalry there.”
Badger Observer caught up with Bollers, one of Wisconsin’s key signees in a highly-regarded 2021 class, about a variety of topics about his present situation at Cal and his past in Madison. Here’s what he had to say during the full 16-minute conversation:
