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Wisconsin Badgers lineman will enter transfer portal and play for 7th college season

Wisconsin Badgers fans assumed center Jake Renfro's college career was over after he finished up his sixth year in 2025, all with Luke Fickell.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin offensive lineman Jake Renfro (57) provides pass protection during the second quarter of their game against Miami (Ohio) Thursday, August 28, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin offensive lineman Jake Renfro (57) provides pass protection during the second quarter of their game against Miami (Ohio) Thursday, August 28, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers fans assumed center Jake Renfro's college career was over after he finished up his sixth year in 2025, all with Luke Fickell.

And while it turns out his Badgers career is over, he's not done playing college football.

On Thursday, he announced his intention to enter the transfer portal with a medical hardship year granting him another season of eligibility for 2026.

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Renfro was arguably Wisconsin's most consistent offensive lineman when he was on the field the last two seasons.

He started all 12 games in 2024 as a stabilizing force in the middle, but he had trouble staying on the field in 2025.

Renfro started the season-opener against Miami (OH) but suffered an injury that held him out of Week 2. He returned for Week 3 against Alabama but suffered another knee injury and missed the next two games.

He started again against Iowa and Ohio State before undergoing season-ending surgery.

Related: Another highly-talented Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver enters the transfer portal

He played 225 snaps in four games this season, qualifying him for a medical hardship waiver to gain eligibility to keep playing.

Injuries have been the story of Renfro's college career, missing all of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

He began his college career at Cincinnati in 2020 and then followed Fickell when he came to Wisconsin in 2023.

If he follows through with his transfer portal intention, it will be his seventh collegiate season but his first for a different head coach.

The Badgers were preparing to need a new starting center anyway, had they lost him to graduation instead of the portal.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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