It's Friday morning, and the excitement and anticipation is building. As the University of Wisconsin football team gathers for the final team meeting before game day, players wonder amongst themselves what it will look like. No, not the game plan or scouting report for the following day's game. The players are waiting for the answer to a question concerning a secret almost as well kept as the contents of the Nuclear Football: What will he do this week?

Mark Zalewski walks into the now nearly full room and the hair-raising answer is plain for everyone to see.

If you were in Camp Randall Stadium either of the past two weeks, as the players ran off the field, something probably caught your eye. There was Zalewski, helmet in hand running off the field, one of three linebackers sporting a fresh Mohawk.

What began four weeks ago as a way to take a new look into the Big Ten season, quickly became a contest of sorts among Zalewski and fellow starting linebackers Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy.

"Usually on Thursdays, me and Jonathan get our haircut, just as a ritual," Levy explained. "We decided to do something different, so we said, 'Get a Mohawk.' We had been kinda thinking about it, just joking around with it, but we just did it one day, and it carried over."

"Heading into Big Ten play, we wanted a little different look, a linebacker thing, kind of have a trademark," Casillas said.

It took very little convincing to get Zalewski, or "Zew" as he is called by teammates and fans, to go along with the idea.

"Those guys mentioned it, and I was in with it. It's just kind of a fun thing to do," Zalewski said.

That first week, the linebackers had some company in the hairstyle, as Levy said about 10 other teammates sported the look. Eventually, only the linebackers persevered.

Understandably so, as living up to any of the three linebackers' hairdos would be a difficult feat.

Just as no two players are the same, neither are two sculpted heads of hair. Casillas sports an adapted Mr. T-hawk with designs shaved into the hair on either side. Levy has gone the route of a Shawne Merriman-esque Mohawk and also shaved designs in his head. And Zalewski's look has gone above and beyond the other two, almost defying comparison.

The best description, however, would be a hybrid of former University of Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth's Mohawk and Dennis Rodman's color combinations.

"I'm trying to keep up with Zew," Casillas said. "I mean, we started out with regular Mohawks and then he tries to throw the pink in, then the red in, then it was yellow, then it was raccoon-like.

"I try to get the designs in my head, try to keep up with him. He's ahead of everyone right now," Casillas continued, adding he may add the numbers 723 in homage to the area code of his native New Brunswick, N.J.

Levy has gone about as far as he wants to go right now.

"That's too far," Levy said when asked if he would ever dye his 'do.

"[Casillas] has been trying to talk me into that for the past couple weeks, but I'm not ready for words or numbers in there," Levy finished.

The Mohawk has become the specialty haircut of choice recently, with pro football players Chad Johnson and Merriman having them as well as Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski.

Ask any Badger, though, and you will find they think Zalewski's beats the others by more than a just a hair.

"I think Zew tops them all. He has put spots, stripes; he's bleached it completely white," Levy said. "I think Zew is up there, though; no one else has done what he has."

Just like the game plan on the field, the hair plan evolves from week to week.

"It just kind of happens on the spot," Levy said of the weekly changes. "The first couple times [Levy and Casillas] did it, Lance Kendricks came in, and we just showed him places to cut. Last couple weeks, Josh Neal has been brainstorming while we cut."

Zalewski also has his own personal barber, UW defensive lineman Mark Gorman.

"I named Mark Gorman my stylist, and every week now we scheme up together and see what colors to go with," Zalewski said.

"Nope, nope," refused Zalewski when asked for a preview of what might be coming this week against Purdue. "You gotta wait 'til Saturday, game day, to see. Thursday night we do it."

This means the team and the rest of the world gets its first eagerly anticipated look at the fresh hairdos Friday at the team meeting.

"You look at the team and you say, 'Who are those three weird-looking guys with the Mohawks?'" Casillas said.

Those are the UW linebackers — Zew's 'Do Crew.