MADISON -- On a 1st-and-10 from the South Florida 22-yard line, safety Collin Wilder lined up in man coverage in one of Wisconsin's nickel packages. Mere seconds later, the former walk-on and Houston transfer broke on a Blake Barnett pass that wound up in his possession in his Badger debut.

“It was kind of all a blur. I really don't remember much," Wilder told BadgerBlitz.com on Monday. "Just felt the ball kind of hit my hands and then got up and sold the ball, just start celebrating with my teammates.

"It was a cool atmosphere to be around those guys, and for them to congratulate me like that, it meant a lot.”

Three plays later, Wilder's first career interception led to Bradrick Shaw's 15-yard touchdown run to cap Wisconsin's scoring in a 49-0 season-opening road win against the Bulls on Friday night.

Wilder, a former walk-on, credits defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard in helping with his footwork and improving upon his man coverage skills over the past year. He felt confident in what he was taught and felt prepared for the route that he would see.

"Saw the ball thrown, broke on it," Wilder said. "I really saw the ball before he caught the ball, so I really tried to go for that before he caught it. But really just trusting myself and trusting my footwork and what we've trained for.”

The Aug. 30 game marked the first time in nearly two years Wilder has played in a college football game, and heading into a Week 2 matchup against Central Michigan, Wilder's name may be called more in the defensive backfield with UW listing Scott Nelson out with a left leg injury.

For Wilder, the 5-foot-10, 194-pound defensive back's journey to Madison started after transferring from Houston in spring of 2018 to walk on to the Wisconsin program. He sat out last season due to NCAA rules, but in February of 2019, he was informed he would be put on scholarship. During spring and fall camp, he worked in the two-deep of Leonhard's safety group.

According to Pro Football Focus, Wilder played 25 snaps in UW's win last week and graded out with an 80.5 -- good for fourth on the defense and fifth on the team when combining the offensive and defensive units. That included an 81.8 grade in coverage.

As Wilder acknowledged, the safeties have rotated throughout spring practices and during fall camp.

“Whether it’s me and Scott, Scott and Eric [Burrell], Scott and Reggie [Pearson], Reggie and Eric, we’re all very comfortable playing with each other so the rotation I thought went really smooth," Wilder said. "We all have a certain chemistry with each other. It’s special with each one of us so there should be no issues with that.”

The position group came down with two of the three turnovers generated by Wisconsin's defense in a dominant effort against USF. Besides Wilder's interception, Burrell also picked off a Barnett pass in the second quarter. Overall, South Florida gained just 157 yards -- 131 through the air.

Wilder pointed out that in spring practices and fall camp, they emphasized running to the ball and having a "see ball, get ball type mentality."

“That really has carried over throughout the whole defense," Wilder said. "As you could see in the game last week, the culture really spread across the whole defense. Hopefully, we can carry that into this week.”

The group appears to be extremely versatile as well. In Wisconsin's defense, its nickel package includes five defensive backs, but three safeties may be on the field during that time. UW opened with that to start USF's first offensive series as Nelson, Burrell and Pearson worked in the 2-4-5 scheme.

In fact, during the play that yielded the fourth quarter interception, fellow safeties Madison Cone and Tyler Mais joined Wilder on the field. With that particular look, the Katy, Tex., native, believes those within the safety position have "a special part of our game" that is unique from one another.

“I think with us on the field altogether, I think we can really carry something that’s different from each other, but we can complement each other as well when we’re on the field," Wilder said. "It showed. Eric is really good in the post. Reggie’s very aggressive at the line. Scott is very good in coverage, and he showed some really good run fits during South Florida, so I think we all can complement each other with our play styles.”

When asked about that three-safety aligned during postgame player availability last week, Burrell made sure to include that Wilder "showed up," and with the four safeties seen in last week's two-deep, "you'll definitely see us this year."

"We all can cover, we all can hit, we know the playbook and stuff like that," said Burrell, who is listed as the starting free safety with Nelson out. "Whatever's out there, we're going to go out there and make plays."

*With redshirt sophomore Izayah Green-May (right arm) out for Saturday's game against Central Michigan, redshirt junior Noah Burks bumped up to first-team designation at outside linebacker opposite redshirt senior Zack Baun on the team's released depth chart.

Baun believed he saw Burks have more confidence "shining through" after the first game of the season.

“He’s doing a good job," Baun said on Monday. "I think he played pretty well on Friday night, but of course there are still things to look over. He has progressed a lot. I like to see that out of him."

*With the updated AP and Coaches polls released on Tuesday, Wisconsin sits now at No. 17 and No. 16, respectively heading into its Week 2 matchup against the Chippewas.