When Lee Evans suffered a knee injury in the first quarter of Saturday’s game, the Badgers needed someone to step up and carry the torch for the offense.

That player turned out to be freshman wide receiver Darrin Charles.
Wisconsin’s No. 2 wide receiver, Charles proved he has what it takes to take over the No. 1 role if needed next fall, depending on Evans’ condition.

Charles posted numbers against UW’s backups similar to those Evans averaged last season, grabbing eight receptions for 148 yards and one touchdown.

But more than that, he gained confidence from UW’s quarterbacks.

“[Charles] did a great job,” Brooks Bollinger said. “He went across the middle, took some hits. It’s good when you start to get confidence in a guy like that. I’ve always had confidence in him, but when he gets to that next level when you know he’s going to go up and compete for the football and make a play on the ball.”

Jim Sorgi expressed similar sentiments.

“I was real impressed with Darrin,” Sorgi said. “He’ll go across the middle for you and take that hit, as he showed today. He really stepped up and matured a lot this spring, and I think he’s ready to take on some responsibilities.”

Other wide receivers showed they can step up as well. With the extent of Evans’ injury still unknown, the younger receivers proved this unit has the materials needed to produce offense next spring if they are forced to go on without the talents of Evans.

Junior Byron Brown tallied two receptions for 46 yards, sophomore Travann Hayes recorded 35 yards on two receptions, and freshman Jonathon Orr made two catches for 31 yards.

“Certainly, the cupboard is not bare,” said wide-receivers coach Henry Mason. “We’re going to be OK at the position.”

While Mason’s wide-receiving corps is deep, as of now he is still expecting Evans to come back from this injury and lead his unit in the fall.

Special teams still ailing: Five months and one new coach later, the Badgers still have not found a cure for the special-teams woes that plagued them last season. During Saturday’s game, placekicker Mike Allen missed three field goals. The sophomore failed to connect from distances of 34, 30, and 32 yards.

Following the game, Allen had no explanation for his performance.

“It was a pretty crappy day for me today,” Allen said. “I can’t really tell you what happened. All spring I’ve been doing pretty well, and then it comes down to today and I obviously did not do too well.”

The sophomore just hopes the coaching staff doesn’t lose confidence in him after this poor outing.

“[The coaches] all know I can kick — I can kick very well, in fact,” Allen said. “But it either comes down, you have to perform every single day. I didn’t. I definitely took a step down today, but I’m going to progress and I’m going to get better.”

Allen’s counterpart, the punting unit, also needs some tweaking.

Kirk Munden averaged 33.5 yards on two punts for the Cardinal team, and R.J.

Morse averaged 31.1 yards on seven punts for the White squad.

“I don’t think they punted very well,” said head coach Barry Alvarez. “They were low line-drive kicks. I don’t think that was real impressive today.”

Bickerstaff bounces back: After 15 practices, Alvarez crowned Erik Bickerstaff the most pleasant surprise of the spring.

“[Bickerstaff] was really productive at tailback,” Alvarez said. “Every scrimmage we had he broke some big plays, he ran very hard. He can also play fullback. That was a very pleasant surprise. He really upgraded his game.”

Alvarez said Bickerstaff, who sat out of the game due to injury, will play at both the tailback and fullback positions next season.

“I feel good with him at tailback,” Alvarez said of Bickerstaff. “It really gives us a nice change of pace with Anthony [Davis] and Jerone [Pettus] and throwing a big back in there.”

Old hat for QBS: Heading into their senior and junior seasons respectively, Brooks Bollinger and Jim Sorgi are comfortable with UW’s offense.

More than that, the coaches are confident in the two quarterbacks.

“In the fourth quarter, coaches let me and Brooks call the last series when [freshman Matt] Schabert was in there, so it just looks like we’re more comfortable, we’ve got things down, we know the offense, we’re ready to go,” Sorgi said.

The duo’s play calling failed to score a touchdown for the Cardinal team in the closing seconds of the scrimmage, but that didn’t reflect on the overall effectiveness of the two quarterbacks.

In fact, Alvarez was pleased with Bollinger’s and Sorgi’s effort Saturday.

“I thought they were both sharp,” Alvarez said of the two quarterbacks. “I thought they threw the ball well, they managed to gain well. I thought they were pretty good.”

Only seeing playing time in the first half, Bollinger was 8-11 for 133 yards and a touchdown, and Sorgi threw 8-13 for 134 yards and one touchdown.

Both Bollinger and Sorgi, who wore green jerseys in order to prevent injury during the scrimmage, sat out the second half, allowing Schabert to take over Cardinal’s offense. Schabert started for the White team, going 1-8 for five yards. He found more success with the starters, throwing 6-16 for 90 yards.

With Schabert played for the Cardinal team, freshman Owen Daniels had a chance to lead the White’s offense. Daniels was 6-10 for 66 yards.

Mack injured: Evans wasn’t the only player injured in Saturday’s scrimmage, as linebacker Jeff Mack left the field early and headed for the training room. According to Alvarez, Mack twisted his ankle and is expected to be just fine.