You can’t blame head football coach Barry Alvarez and the rest of the Badger coaching staff if they are having trouble sleeping this week. The Badgers are hoping to avoid the nightmare of major injuries this year at Saturday’s annual renewal of the Spring Game at Camp Randall Stadium.

Of course, last year’s battle between the first- and second-string units was marred by the knee injury of wide receiver Lee Evans that put him on the shelf for the duration of the season. Evans’ injury brought to light the health risks and season-long consequences that can be experienced from giving offensive and defensive starters significant live action in an off-season scrimmage. This year, it still remains unclear if any starters will be held out of action.

“I really don’t know if I’m going to play yet,” junior cornerback Scott Starks said. “The coaches haven’t talked to us about it yet, so I really don’t know.”

Some players, like Jim Sorgi and the rest of the quarterbacks in action, may wear green non-contact jerseys that make them off limits to would-be tacklers. It is yet to be determined how cautious an approach the coaching staff will wish to take Saturday, but precautions are being considered in order to avoid the type of serious injury that Evans suffered.

With Evans’ rehabilitation finishing up and his imminent return to the huddle, the Badger offense looks as potent as ever. Evans hopes to return to his 2001 form, with which he set the Big Ten single-season record for receiving yards with 1,545 and was named as one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the nation’s best receiver. Combined with the efforts of returning wide outs Jonathan Orr and Brandon Williams, the receiving corps is strong and deep this year.

“I think [the defense] just won’t be able to key on me,” Evans said. “We’re going to have enough weapons where we can spread it around, [the offense] will come from different directions. I definitely think that gives us that dimension that we really need in the passing game.”

Another change in the passing game will come from the senior leadership of quarterback Jim Sorgi. Patiently waiting in the wings behind Brooks Bollinger for three years, Sorgi will finally have his chance to be the full-time starter in 2003.

“Jim and Brooks are two totally different quarterbacks,” Evans said. “Brooks makes plays with his feet, but Sorgi allows his arm to make plays a lot of times.”

“With Sorgi at quarterback,” Evans believes, “it definitely gives our offense another dimension just from what he can do with the passing game.”

Combined with the running prowess of junior running back Anthony Davis, the Badger offense has the potential to be an explosive unit this year.

“I think we’re going to open up our offense a little bit more this year and try and get a lot more people involved,” Davis said. “We’ve got a whole group of playmakers with running backs and receivers, so we’re going to try and spread the ball around a little bit more this year.”

Meanwhile, the defensive unit is trying to make up for an inconsistent 2002 campaign. After starting last season with five consecutive victories, Kevin Cosgrove’s defense drew much of the criticism for the Badgers’ 2-6 mark in the Big Ten Conference season, allowing over 27 points per game.

“I like the way we finished,” Cosgrove said. “We feel we’re going to be stronger defensively. The guys we got coming in, replacing the two guys that left, and the addition of some of the younger guys, [means] we’re going to be stronger.”

The strength of the defense may eventually end up being in the secondary. The leader of the defensive backfield will undoubtedly be All-American safety Jim Leonhard. After grabbing an NCAA leading 11 interceptions last year, Leonhard is part of an experienced secondary that returns starters Scott Starks and Ryan Aiello as well.

“We got lots of guys coming back with a lot of experience,” Leonhard said. “That experience is going to help us, because we’ve seen all the situations, we’ve been in all the situations, so that’s definitely going to help us out.”

While the team hopes to improve on its performance, not much of the defensive scheme has been altered for this season.

“We didn’t change a whole lot,” Starks said. “Our whole package is really basic this year. We’ve just been adding on more and more each day.”

Cosgrove is pleased with the strives being made in the spring to sure up the strength in not only the secondary, but on the entire defensive side of the ball.

“What we need is more consistency, play after play, from that whole group,” Cosgrove said. “I’m seeing it this spring, I’m seeing them get better and they are playing with more confidence.” While still only in the spring, Cosgrove is impressed with the effort put forth by the defense and is optimistic about the fortunes of this year’s unit.

“We have to improve in all areas,” said Cosgrove. “But I think we are having a very good spring practice. I see guys improving. We’re going to look for that to continue to happen and if that happens I think we have a chance to be very good.”