The University of Wisconsin football team hosted their annual spring game Saturday in front of a strong home crowd of 9,181 at Camp Randall.
The scrimmage was the final practice for the team this spring and gave the Badgers an opportunity to see the state of their team going into the summer.
The two teams were coached by two recent football legends at Wisconsin, wide receiver Jared Abbrederis and linebacker Joe Schobert. The game was close, with Abbrederis’ team pulling out a 28-22 victory.
“None of us really exchanged words, but I know if we did, they would just tell me to keep working,” running back Corey Clement said. “What people don’t get is that I just want to run around out there and this was a great a time for me to run and get hit a little.”
Clement went for 36 yards on five carries and a nine-yard touchdown on the first drive before sitting the rest of the game. The Heisman-hopeful is still rehabbing a sports hernia from last season, but looked promising and confident in his cuts despite the no-tackling policy for the defense.
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While Clement’s health was certainly a headline to follow, the real draw of the spring game came in the quarterback battle between fifth-year senior Bart Houston and redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook.
Going into the scrimmage, Houston was speculated to be the frontrunner, but hadn’t made a dominant impression on the coaching staff, allowing Hornibrook back into the conversation. That trend continued Saturday, as Hornibrook threw for 132 yards and two touchdowns, going 4-8 on completions with one interception, while Houston struggled to find a rhythm, completing seven of 13 passes for 73 yards.
“I thought [Hornibrook] did some good things out there today and has been doing so at every practice,” head coach Paul Chryst said. “One thing that [Hornibrook] does is he’s an accurate deep ball passer and he gives us a nice chance to make a play.”
Hornibrook’s two touchdowns on the day were 43 and 46 yard bombs to junior George Rushing, who is trying to make a case for the third and still questionable receiver spot on the outside.
Rushing currently sits behind senior Rob Wheelwright, who didn’t dress Saturday, and red-shirt junior Jazz Peavy after losing star senior Alex Erickson to graduation this spring.
“[Rushing] took advantage of the opportunities out there and that’s what happens when you practice and stay healthy,” Chryst said. “For us to be a good team this fall, we’re going to have to develop some depth in that position.”
On the defensive front, only one position really caught any attention: Safety.
With redshirt junior T.J. Watt filling in for Schobert and every other linebacker returning, the coaching staff has few concerns on the front seven. On the back end, however, Sojourn Shelton is the lone veteran on a normally stingy secondary and is looking for someone to step up and join him on the first line.
Redshirt freshman Arrington Farrar, fifth-year senior Leo Musso and junior Derrick Tindal got the start Saturday and seem to be the front runners up to this point. That said, Chryst has confidence that young guys like D’Cota Dixon, Joe Ferguson and Evan Bondoc could vie for the spots as summer camp begins and the position is still very much in the air.
“At this point, I think the safety position is probably the one on defense that is still to be determined,” Chryst said.
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All in all, the feeling around the locker room was upbeat and players seemed excited following a successful spring game.
“I thought it was a perfect day for it — nice weather and really a good event for families to get out to,” Watt said. “It gets redundant all spring with the same media guys, so I thought it was nice to get some excitement and show some of the fans what we can do.”
