It's hard to believe Wisconsin is just one day away from the start of it's spring football practices, huh? Sooner than later we'll be bringing you reports from actual football practices. In the mean time it's time to get back to looking at the battles to be had and the position groups as they stand entering spring camp.
Up today is a position that sees some change, yet may not be a big change despite the loss. That's right, we're talking about the running back position.
We all know Montee Ball is gone, giving us one of the greatest careers in college football history and Wisconsin's first Doak Walker award winner since Ron Dayne. However, this is Wisconsin and they do two things – reload, not replace offensive lineman and running backs.
Seriously, when was the last time you were worried about who would take over as the main running back? If you're a bit older like me you've probably got to go back to possibly the 2000 or 2001 seasons when it was Michael Bennett taking over for Dayne (2000) or when it was Anthony Davis taking over for Bennett (2001). It's seriously been that long.
This season isn't going to be much different, instead it's going to be interesting to see who steps up in the new offensive system that will be in place. So, how do we see things shaking out this spring?
Lost, but not forgotten: Montee Ball
We all know about Ball's all-time TD record and the fact that he was an All-American during his time at Wisconsin. Replacing him may not be the easiest of things to do, but reloading with a new style or a new system may help that.
Starter(s) Still Here: None
That may have been one of the most impressive things about Ball, he hardly ever was injured and rarely missed a start in his career. In fact he never missed a single game due to injury in his career as a Badger and that's remarkable considering he carried the ball 924 times at UW.
New Faces for Spring: None
Battles to be Had: Who's No. 1
Some have been suggesting since the Rose Bowl loss to that it's simply James White's job as if that's a given. To those people I ask if they bothered to see what Melvin Gordon was able to do last year as well. Thinking the starters role is just going to be handed to White is a mistake.
Is he the front runner? Sure, his body of work points to him being capable of taking over the full-time load. However, expecting Gordon to just let him take that role without a challenge is a big time mistake. Gordon was never really able to show his abilities between the tackles last season as he was used far more as a guy that would take an end-around or a jet sweep. Either way it's hard to argue with 621 yards and a 10 yards per carry average.
White was used as the spell back for Ball the last two seasons after a great freshman season of his own and comes in off of a 2012 season that saw him go for 806 yards with 12 touchdowns and average 6.4 yards a carry. He's got 2,571 yards and 32 touchdowns in his career already.
Count me as one of those that see this as perhaps the most fun battle to watch this spring, but no matter what happens this spring expect both Gordon and White to be heavy players in the running game in 2013.
Player to Watch: Jeff Lewis
Perhaps the most interesting question is seeing if junior Jeff Lewis can also be in the mix – he's flashed in limited carries throughout his career and probably is a starter if he wasn't at Wisconsin, that's how loaded this backfield is. He's got 200 yards rushing in just 37 carries so far for an average of 5.4 yards a carry. Of course he could be in danger of being 4th or even 5th on the depth chart come fall when Corey Clement and Vonte Jackson (may be available this spring but depends on knee health) will both be in the mix for sure. So, why not watch the back that has that kind of talent and see if he can vault himself into the mix again, right?
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