Amidst the blanketing snow of an early-March storm and the campus-wide excitement of a Big Ten basketball title, the UW football team commenced its spring football practices last Thursday in the McClain Center.

Just a little over two months removed from its 31-28 overtime thriller of a win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, head coach Barry Alvarez’ team is back in pads and setting their sights on the 2003 football season.

The team will practice 14 times in the next month, culminating in the annual spring football game on Saturday, April 12.

Among the objectives Alvarez and his staff will tackle over the next four weeks will be a search to find players who will fill a handful of vacant spots in the starting line-up and, more importantly, the fight to keep their players healthy.

It was in last year’s spring game that all-American wide receiver Lee Evans suffered a knee injury which kept him on the sidelines for the entire 2002 season.

To prevent the occurrence of such a catastrophe this year, extreme caution is being taken with some of UW’s offensive backs as well as returning starters.

Players like Evans, who is still rehabilitating from his second knee surgery, and running back Anthony Davis were held out of Saturday’s full contact scrimmage, which could prove to be a theme for Alvarez’ approach as the spring season unfolds.

Many receivers and running backs will probably be green-shirted for UW’s practices, which will simply indicate that they cannot be hit or tackled by a defensive player. Traditionally, only quarterbacks wear green jerseys when practicing. Green-shirting Evans last spring could have prevented his season-ending injury.

As far as filling starting roles for the 2003 roster, Alvarez will have to replace three offensive linemen, one defensive lineman, a cornerback and, most importantly, a quarterback.

Given that UW is returning 16 starters from last year’s 7-6 squad, a great deal of attention can be paid toward building on a core of experienced players from a year ago, rather than devoting all time and energy toward finding new, inexperienced personnel to compose the majority of their starting line-up.

As the spring season progresses and the mounds of snow blanketing Camp Randall begin to disappear, the team will move their practices outside into the stadium where, six months from now, they will open their 2003 home schedule by hosting Akron.