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Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver already achieved historic season after just three games

The Badgers wide receiver already accomplished something this season no other Wisconsin player has done in 40 years, and no other player has done in college football season.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin wide receiver Vinny Anthony II (8) scores a touchdown on a 14-yard run as Middle Tennessee linebacker Parker Hughes (9) looks on during the third quarter of the game Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin wide receiver Vinny Anthony II (8) scores a touchdown on a 14-yard run as Middle Tennessee linebacker Parker Hughes (9) looks on during the third quarter of the game Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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It only took Vinny Anthony II three games to make history.

The Badgers wide receiver already accomplished something this season no other Wisconsin player has done in 40 years, and no other player has done in college football season.

In Week 1, he caught a three yard touchdown pass. In Week 2, he ran in a 14-yard score on an end-around handoff.

Against Alabama, he returned a kickoff 95 yards untouched into the endzone for a score.

He's the first Badgers player to record a rushing, receiving and return touchdown in the same season since Michael Jones in 1984.

He's the only player in the country to have all three this season, through the first three games.

They also happened to be Anthony's first-career rushing and return touchdowns, and surprisingly, it was only his fifth-career receiving score.

According to PFF, he is one of just 11 players in college football to return a kickoff for a touchdown this season.

One of those 11 others has a rushing touchdown. One other has a receiving touchdown. Anthony is the only one with both.

He has only two kickoff return attempts this season. Everyone else who has scored has at least three.

He is an all-around play-maker for the Badgers, and his continued success will be key to the offense getting off to faster starts and trying to pull off some upsets against their Big Ten rivals.

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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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