Bucky Badger, directing fans to follow all these guys on Twitter. (Flickr)
There aren’t many better follows when you’re a college student than the athletes you watch tear it up on the field or the court. NCAA football and basketball players have been responsible for some of the great tweets of our time over the past ten years, so we thought we’d highlight the UW-Madison athletes with the most Twitter followers.
First, the football players.
1.)Ā Corey Clement 32.5K Followers @CoreyClement_6
About: Cory is originally from Glassboro, New Jersey and came to play for Wisconsin in 2013. He was originally going to attend the University of Pittsburgh but later changed his mind to come to Wisconsin. (Great decision) During his freshman year, he was a backup for Melvin Gordon. He has proven to be a huge asset for Badgers football and will continue to be going into his senior year.
Tweets like: Corey, being the most followed Badger, has a clear obligation to keep the fans happy when it comes to his Twitter account. You can just see how proud this guy is to be a part of Badger ball.
Excited to get back to camp and work towards a great season with my boys man !
ā Corey Clement (@CoreyClement_6) July 31, 2016
Corey gives it 110% on and off the field, and his tweets definitely prove that.
2.)Ā TJ Watt 20.2K Followers @_TJWatt
About: TJ Watt grew up in Pewaukee, Wisconsin and started his career at UW-Madison in 2013. After missing the entire 2014 season with an injury, he played in all 13 games last season and racked up some pretty impressive stats. TJ is expected to start this season at outside linebacker.
Tweets like: Hey ladies, if youāre searching for a mega hunk with a big heart, then T.J. Watt deserves a major follow. From tons of tweets supporting the careers of his two brothers to adorable tweets with his family.
#Family pic.twitter.com/Cwev1L2NcN ā TJ Watt (@_TJWatt) July 20, 2016
He is super family oriented and looks like an all-around good guy. T.J. also does a great job keeping Wisco fans in the loop. Check him out! (Literally)
3.)Ā Sojourn Shelton II 6,398 Followers @_SDS8
About: Shelton started his career with the Badgers in 2013 as well. He is originally from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Shelton has played in every game of his first three seasons with only three that he hasnāt started in. Very impressive. Looks like heās on his way to finishing out his career at Wisconsin in a big way.
Tweets like: SoJourn gives fans what they like and tweets all about the inside scoop about Badger ball. But you can get a good feel for Sojourn’s personality via his Twitter too. Whether itās talking about music, he is into at the time or what movie heās watching.
The Lego Movie !!!
ā Sojourn Shelton II (@_SDS8) August 2, 2016
And how do you now just fall for a guy that loves The Lego Movie! So give Sojourn a follow if you’re looking for a down-to-earth guy with a significant impact on Wisconsin football.
4.) Vince Biegel 4,026 Followers @VinceBiegel
About: Biegel, an outside linebacker, committed to Wisconsin after his junior year of high school in 2011. He picked Wisconsin over a lot of great schools, and the Badgers are lucky to have him! After the 2015 season, Biegel decided not to go to the NFL draft and finish his senior year at UW-Madison.
Tweets like:Ā Vince keeps his fans in the know. He is very active and, believe it or not, posts a lot of tweets about Badger football. Shocking. You can tell, not only by the way Vince plays ball, but also by the way he chooses to use Twitter, how passionate he is about Wisconsin football. What more could a Badger football fan ask for? Also, he’s a Bachelorette fan.
Ball players always get the girls #TheBachelorette ā Vince Biegel (@VinceBiegel) August 2, 2016
5.)Ā Chikwe Obasih 2,851 @Big_Cheeks34
About: Chikwe Obasih is originally from Brookfield, Wisconsin and he attended Brookfield Central High School. He committed to Wisconsin in 2012 and started attending UW-Madison in 2013. Obasih is talented on and off the field. Heās a beastly defensive end and heās an Investment and Banking Major.
Tweets like:Ā Chikwe tweets a lot about different things that the Badgers team is doing and what he is involved with them. Whether itās retweeting pictures of him with fans to press conferences, he always keeps his fans on Twitter in the know. Heās also sprinkled some inspirational quotes throughoutĀ his Twitter feed. Like this Yeezy retweet that he showed love to. Pretty inspiring.
Onto UW-Madison basketball Twitter.
1.)Ā Ā Nigel Hayes 64.6K @NIGEL_HAYES
About: Hayes is from Toledo, OH and attended Whitmer High School. He started his career at Wisconsin in 2013. He was the 6th man off the bench his freshman year, the third leading scorer his sophomore year, and the scoring and assist leader his junior year. He is gearing up to finish his senior year in a big way, and the fans are very excited.
Tweets like: With the most followers on the team, he most definitely has a responsibility to keep the fans informed on whatās going on, and he’s thrived in that role, most notably with his “Nigel Burgundy” updates from the Final Four in 2014. But having over 64,000 Twitter followers heās got his personal agenda that he tends to.
.@HannahSimone mi amico, (below), would LOVE @ZooeyDeschanel to say hi to him; he loves her a lot#Single #Gentleman pic.twitter.com/1jXljiAG2g
ā Nigel Hayes (@NIGEL_HAYES) April 15, 2016
.@Beyonce or @hermliz5?@NBCTheVoice @TheEllenShow @scooterbraun @ToriKelly @ComplexMusic #RT #futurevoicewinner pic.twitter.com/kKgsPVNegD
ā Nigel Hayes (@NIGEL_HAYES) April 23, 2016
Helping out his friends! Whether it be a simple āHiā from the lovable Zooey Deschanel or trying to get his friend’s beautiful voice recognized by someone! What a cool guy!
2.)Ā Ā Bronson Koenig 55.3K @BronsonK_24
About: Koenig went to Aquinas high school in La Crosse, WI. He started his career at Wisconsin in 2013 and is coming up on his senior year. He averages 11.6 points per game andĀ has been with the team for each of their last two Final Four appearances.
Tweets about: Bronson’s a bit of a comedian. He’s got this tweet welcoming Badger Football star Corey Clement to having the #24.
Welcome @CoreyClement_6 https://t.co/oTQMeYsNLE ā Bronson Koenig (@BronsonK_24) March 15, 2016
He’s also a huge fan of tweeting funny videos from his Instagram. Tons of them. This guy tweets a lot so we’re positive that you wonāt get bored scrolling through his Twitter.
3.)Ā Ā Zak Showalter 23.1K @ZShowbball333
About: Zak is originally from Germantown, WI and he started his career at the University of Madison in 2013. He plays guard and proves to be an asset to the team. He’s starting his senior year of college ball this season and fans are excited to see what he can do.
Tweets like: Zak is very active on Twitter, whether heās tweeting about his love for his team or love for MadisonĀ or his ongoing love for LeBron James:
IM SO HAPPY! BRON BRON YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!
ā zak from da dock (@ZShowbball333) June 20, 2016
Zak also loves the board game Settlers of Catan:
Did someone say, Catan? #Just804Things pic.twitter.com/c7egDK4ZxN
ā aaron from da island (@moeschpotato5) July 20, 2016
He doesn’t just like Catan, heās, low-key obsessed. Tons of tweets. Any other āāCatanā or Lebron fans should surely give this guy a follow.
4.)Ā Ā Vitto Brown 10.3K @SenseiSwat33
About: Vitto is originally from Bowling Green, OH and he graduated Bowling Green High School in 2013. Later in 2013 he started his career at Wisconsin. He plays forward, and he proves each game that he deserves to be where he is and crushes it. Vitto is heading into his senior year and will be a featured player if the Badgers expect to compete for another Big 10 title, no doubt.
Tweets like: Vitto Brown is a regular Troy Bolton and if you donāt get that reference you probably werenāt a 7th-grade girl in 2006. This guy does it all. He’s a basketball star, and he sings, beautifully we might add! He tweets a lot of different things about his basketball career at UW-Madison, and he also tweets videos of himself singing. So if youāre into super well-rounded dudes with many talents, give Vitto a follow.
5.)Ā Ā Ethan Happ 8,327 @EthanHapp22
About: Happ went to Rockridge High School in Taylor Ridge, Illinois. He started his career at Wisconsin in 2014-2015 so heās pretty new to the team, but heās been crushing it since day one. In the previous season, Ethan started every game. Going into his junior year for the 2016-2017 season, Badger fans are very excited to see what this guy can do for the team.
Tweets like: Scrolling through Ethanās Twitter gives you a pretty good idea of how much he loves to be a part of Wisconsinās Basketball team. Heās probably got a tweet a week about something related to Badgers basketball.
Callie Kollenbroich
Callie Kollenbroich has been the Operations Coordinator and Content Writer/Editor at Rent College Pads since 2015. When she's not working, you can find her at home, eating peanut butter out of the jar and bingeing an unhealthy amount of Forensic Files. She's not as lame as she sounds.