ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Ben Bredeson had a chance to cash in on his potential this year in the NFL.

The All America offensive guard, though, chose to stay at Michigan for his senior season and to take out an insurance policy, providing some financial protection if an injury hurts his stock in the draft.

Bredeson acknowledged he has “not much” money in the bank right now.

“I’m a college kid,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders.

And, Bredeson does not regret the college-over-money choice he made.

“I absolutely feel good about my decision every single day,” he said. “By the time I’m done here in December, I will have graduated and played four years with the best friends I could’ve at Michigan. I was able to take three trips overseas to see two different continents all over the world.

“The things I’ve been able to do here have just been unimaginable when I was 17 making this decision.”

When the 11th-ranked Wolverines (2-0) play the 13th-ranked Badgers (2-0) Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, he will get another chance to let the home team it let one of the state’s top recruits get away.

“He’s a really good player and it looks to me like he loves playing the game,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. “He’s a leader on their team and that says a lot. I have a ton of respect for him.”

Bredeson was a highly touted recruit in Hartland, Wisconsin, at Arrowhead High School about 50 miles east of the Badgers’ campus.

Like everyone around him, he grew up rooting for the Badgers and Green Bay.

“There’s no other football school there and you grow loving the Badgers and the Packers. You don’t have much of an option,” Bredeson said. “Throughout the recruiting process, they were there from the beginning and all the way to the end.”

Jim Harbaugh was in his first full recruiting year at Michigan when he signed Bredeson, a key player he needed to improve one of the weak links.

“Somebody that was older than his years when we were recruiting him, a mature guy physically,” Harbaugh recalled.

Bredeson has lived up to the billing, starting a team-high 35 games during his three-plus year career. The 6-foot-5, 320-pound Bredeson was a second team All-America player last year.