[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]In the first game of his collegiate career, true freshman Jamil “Dynamite” Walker exploded for 91 yards on just 16 rushes — an average of 5.5 yards per carry — against the Running Rebels Saturday.

“You need some speed at tailback,” head coach Barry Alvarez said after the game. “On some of those things you can block everybody and the way everyone plays defense now your safety’s going to come down. If you have some speed you can outrun that angle at times.”

A two-time All-State track star in high school, Walker brings unquestioned speed to the field for UW. With Anthony Davis set to miss three games, that speed gives the Badgers a much-needed home run threat out of the backfield to complement Booker Stanley’s bruising running style.

“Jamil gives us an answer back there where we have some speed and we can do some things with the running back — get some speed that we miss with Anthony [out],” Alvarez said. “It’s hard for them to get Anthony and Jamil’s the same way. Book’s (Booker Stanley) an up-and-down runner and Book’s a hard-nosed runner and he gets you tough yardage — but he’s not going to outrun anybody.”

Walker said after the game that he was glad to get his premiere out of the way after missing last week’s matchup with the Golden Knights due to a throat virus.

“I felt pretty good for my first game in college,” Walker said.

He expressed quite a bit of confidence in his potential to continue to contribute to the Badgers this season.

“You don’t see too many guys that are 6-2, 220 running like that,” Walker said of his own rare ability. “I hit that edge and I try and go. I’m more of an explosion back.”

Leonhard rewriting record books: With 58 yards returning punts against the Rebels, Jim Leonhard passed Nick Davis to become the Badgers all-time punt-return leader with 1,030 yards.

“I’m really happy with it because I can share this with everyone that’s been on the punt return teams since I’ve been here,” Leonhard said. “There’s ten guys out there blocking for you. You’ve got to take a little pride in your job back there returning the ball when you know you’ve got 10 guys doing all they can to help you out. My name is going to go in the record books, but by no means has it been just me.”

Missed opportunities: With 12:19 left in the fourth quarter, the Badger offense punched the ball into the end zone for the first and only time. UW was in the red zone early and often in the game, but hadn’t been able to convert on the chances.

“We didn’t finish early in the game, which would have given us a cushion,” Alvarez said. “When you get inside the ten-yard line, it’s hard to throw it down there. You’ve got to run it — you’ve got to be able to establish the run.”

Allen struggles: Wisconsin placekicker Mike Allen had a rough day Saturday, failing to knock down a field goal in two attempts. Allen missed a 23-yarder in the first quarter and a 49-yarder in the second.

“Some times kickers don’t have a good day,” Alvarez said of his kicker’s struggles. “He missed an easy one and then missed another one. I don’t want to ruin it. Mike’s a good kicker and we’ll get a lot of mileage out of him down the road.”

Allen did hit an extra-point in the fourth quarter.

Snakebitten Sanders: For the second straight week, UW weakside linebacker Dontez Sanders was stripped of a big play on national television. He made an impressive pick in the third quarter, which was called back due to a late hit by Jason Jefferson.

“I think that ‘Tez feels like he’s probably cursed,” UW defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said. “Every time he does something good they pull it away from him.”

Against Central Florida last week Sanders ran back a fumble for 50-yards only to have it called back after video replay determined that he was officially down before the return.

Sanders expressed his confidence that at some point his luck will turn around.

“Two weeks in a row — what can I do? I just go out there and play hard every day,” Sanders said. “I hope next week the whistle just doesn’t blow and I can keep going.”