[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit] After three weeks of watching from the sidelines, Wisconsin’s second all-time leading rusher, Anthony Davis, has been cleared to return to the field.

The senior tailback, who was able to rush for 78 yards and a touchdown against Central Florida before succumbing to an eye injury in the season opener, will be a welcome addition to an offense that has struggled to put up points this season.

“Well, I think Anthony certainly would bring a little to the offense,” head coach Barry Alvarez said, understating the team captain’s importance to the squad.

The Badger offense, which averaged 4.7 yards per carry on its way to gaining 230 yards with Davis in the lineup, struggled to just 421 yards in the next three games on just 3.1 yards per carry. Wisconsin’s problems running the ball showed up on the scoreboard, where the Badgers were able to put up only 14.3 points per game sans Davis.

The offense’s struggles have revolved around a lack of consistency and big-play capability. Davis will help alleviate each of those concerns.

“So I think Anthony, he gives you some continuity and he’ll hit a homerun,” Alvarez said. “He can move the sticks more consistently.”

What has made Davis a consistent performer over the years has been his ability to find the slight gaps that the offensive line opens up and explode through the hole. Until senior fullback Matt Bernstein lined up at tailback, that explosion seemed to be lacking in the Wisconsin attack.

“Our linemen had been covering people up,” Alvarez said. “There were seams in there. When there are not always gaping holes you have to go in there and find some things. I think that’s what Bernie did and that’s what Anthony does.”

With Davis back in the fold, the Badgers’ rushing attack will vastly improve. As a result, the passing game should also be more effective if the opponents are forced to concentrate more of their defensive energies on the run.

Davis suffered his eye injury late in the first half of the Central Florida game at the end of a long run. UW ophthalmologists determined that Davis would be out for at least three weeks at the time. A reevaluation of Davis’ status yesterday afternoon led to his being cleared to play this weekend.

Durability has been one of Davis’ problems, having missed games in all four of his years at Wisconsin. His most significant time missed came last season when a high ankle sprain caused Davis to miss all of five games and most of four others. Despite his injuries, Davis gained 682 yards on 116 carries.

He missed one game in each of his first two seasons. Turf toe sidelined Davis his freshman year for the game against Indiana, while a stab wound kept him out of the Illinois game as a sophomore.

Davis came into the season as a Sporting News preseason All-American largely based on the fact that he had the third-most rushing yards in the nation over the past three seasons with 3,703 yards. Most of those yards came during his first two seasons, when he racked up 3,021 yards.

The 3,703 mark also left him third on Wisconsin’s all-time-rushing-leaders’ list behind Ron Dayne and Billy Marek. It took only two plays for Davis to pass Marek this season.