SPORTS
1000 yard tradition looks to continue
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Wednesday, October 24, 2001
People say that the only things in life that are definite are death and taxes. Well, over the past nine years, another thing can be added to that list: the Wisconsin football team having a 1,000-yard rusher.
To refresh and hopefully give some pleasant flashbacks to your memory, here’s a list of Wisconsin’s 1,000-yard backs: Brent Moss in 1993, Terrell Fletcher in 1994, Carl McCullough in 1995, Ron Dayne in 1996-99, and Michael Bennett in 2000.
That eight-season span of greatness, however, seemed to be in jeopardy as this season began. Michael Bennett’s jump to the NFL after just his sophomore season left the Badgers to sort through a list of underclassmen running backs out of freshmen Tyron Griffin, Jerone Pettus, Anthony Davis and sophomore Broderick Williams,.
While Wiliams and Pettus have seen some playing time (Griffin left the team), Davis has clearly emerged as the heir to the throne of Wisconsin’s 1,000-yard rushers by rushing for 148 yards in the opener against Virginia and never looking back.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in this string of runners, Davis is virtually a lock to surpass the 1,000-yard mark as a redshirt freshman. With 956 yards on the season, Davis almost seems sure to break the mark at Camp Randall this Saturday against Michigan State.
Perhaps the reason why Wisconsin has had so many 1,000-yard rushers is that they have always viewed the milestone as a key to winning, not simply as a separate goal set at the start of the year.
“I think we always just go into every season knowing that if we take care of our business, then we’re going to have a 1,000-yard rusher,” UW offensive coordinator Brian White said. “We don’t ever set a goal that we want a 1,000-yard rusher. Is it something we’re proud of? Yes, absolutely. I don’t think we go into any games saying, "Well, we’ve got to give the ball to Anthony (Davis) X amount of times so he can get 1,000 yards.’ (1,000) yards usually happens because that’s part of the mandate to the program and [because] it’s part of the philosophy of the program.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt when a team can continuously cycle talented, coachable players through the system like Wisconsin has done.
“I’ve enjoyed coaching them all,” said White, who began coaching running backs in 1995. “From Carl McCullough to Ron (Dayne), Michael (Bennett) and Anthony (Davis). And you know what? The backups are just as good. (They’re) great kids. The Eddie Faulkners of the world, Matt Unertl, Jerone Pettus, Aaron Stecker when he was here, these were great young men that have been a joy to coach and a privilege to coach.”
The latest in the line of 1,000-yard backs, Davis, may not closely resemble the most recent running backs at Wisconsin, but rather two of the best from the earlier years.
“I think (Davis is) really different from all of them, with probably the exception of Brent (Moss) and Terrell (Fletcher),” White said. “I didn’t coach them, but I think (Davis has) got a combination of the two of them. Maybe not as strong as Brent, but with the quickness and explosiveness of Terrell.”
However, White feels that Davis still has room for improvement.
“I don’t even think he’s come close to tapping where he can go,” said White.
Another major reason for the continuing success of the Badgers’ ground game is one that can’t be overlooked. The offensive line, which has sent such players as Corey Raymer, Joe Panos, Aaron Gibson, Mark Tauscher and Chris MacIntosh to the NFL, has simply been a dominant force in the Alvarez era, and they are darn proud of it.
“When I was a freshman, we had Ron Dayne,” junior right tackle Jason Jowers said. “Those starting linemen blocked for him, and it was a big thing of him getting the Heisman, him getting 1,000 yards. “And then last year Michael Bennett getting 1,000 yards. Going into this year no one thought we would (have a 1,000-yard rusher), and we said ‘hey, why not, it doesn’t matter who it is.”
“[The offensive line] is the engine, the foundation of the program,” White said. “They make everything go. We’re playing a young group of guys right now that have really played well. I couldn’t be more proud of what they give our program and the toughness that they symbolize.”
Jowers refelcted White’s sentiment that taking care of business is more important than simply worrying about having a 1,000-yard rusher.
“We know that if we’re blocking, if we’re out there blocking as a group and doing what we have to do, then we’re going to make some big holes, and so one of those running backs, or the quarterback, whoever’s running with the ball, they can do it,” Jowers said. “A thousand yards, I guess that’s the ultimate goal as far as what we overall think of it. Anthony Davis, he’s been our guy, he’s a redshirt freshman, and I’m ready to block for him until I leave here.”
Jowers also reflects the sentiment that there was uncertainty at the start of the year, yet another 1,000-yard back has popped out of the woodwork for the Badgers.
“I don’t know if it was a surprise or we expected it either way,” he said. “We didn’t really know what would come of it. We knew we had some talented guys, and I think we just kind of went out and did our job. I think when we saw how quickly [Davis] was moving up the ladder, it was a little surprising for a while. Then we started realizing, ‘Hey, why don’t we just get him this?’”
So the burning question is how do the Badgers keep producing 1,000-yard rushers year after year despite the loss of both talented running backs and offensive linemen, both in the form of graduation and, in Michael Bennett’s case, entering the NFL draft early? Perhaps the largest reason is the incoming talent the Badgers seem to have at these two positions every year. However, the reason why these guys succeed has been the Wisconsin coaching staff’s ability to develop them and utilize their talent.
“You always lose something when a first-round draft pick leaves your program early (or when someone graduates),” White said. “But that’s the nature of the business, and you just move on and develop other guys. We’ve done a pretty good job of being able to develop guys.”
With 956 yards on the season and four games remaining, it’s safe to add Anthony Davis to the continuing list of consecutive 1,000-yard rushers, along with Moss, Fletcher, McCullough, Dayne, and Bennett. And if the Wisconsin football program has their way, this list will get pretty long. Now if only they could control death and taxes.
