[media-credit name=’RAY PFEIFFER/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]"I just go out there and play my game," P.J. Hill repeated several times after his 184-yard performance against San Diego State.

It was Sept. 16, 2006, and the Badgers had just stumbled to an unconvincing 14-0 victory over San Diego State. Sure, Wisconsin was 3-0; the job, to exit the pre-Big Ten schedule unscathed in the win/loss column, was complete. But the Wisconsin players being interviewed in UW's locker room were reaching to find positive things to say about the effort, because the offense — a unit that looked disastrous at times during spring ball eight months ago — was still not in synch, with a huge matchup ahead at Michigan.

The defense was playing well, as expected, but players seemed to believe this year wasn't going to be a resounding success if so many points were going to be left on the board. There was little, offensively, of which to be optimistic.

Except for the bouncing ball of energy, the redshirt freshman who had just moved to the far side of the room. Widely unknown just two weeks prior — and virtually anonymous before that — P.J. Hill had just reeled off another surprising performance, saving the Badgers with a 53-yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie with the Aztecs in the third quarter.

While the offense was struggling to score points, this young kid who came off a bad leg injury that caused him to redshirt the 2005 season had burst onto the scene with his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game, contributing 615 rushing yards and five touchdowns — scoring at least once in each of the three season-opening victories.

It was at this point that Hill repeated what would become his catch phrase; he just goes there, and he plays his game. There's nothing else to it. Stats don't matter, rankings don't matter, the pressures of potentially carrying a weakened offense are put aside; Hill just wants to have fun playing the game he loves.

Hill was held in check in the first Big Ten game of his career, gaining just 54 yards on 20 carries, in the 27-13 loss to Michigan. But ever since then, Hill and the Badgers have been on a tier.

Granted, Michigan was the last and only ranked team to take the field against UW this year, but a seven-game winning streak is, nonetheless, still a seven-game winning streak. And what Hill has brought to the table has not just been his stats (131.5 rushing yards per game, 15 total touchdowns), but his ability to contribute in the clutch.

Of Hill's 14 rushing TDs, seven have been from 1 yard out. Two more have been from the 2-yard line, and he's also got scoring runs of 3 and 5 yards as well. Through 11 games, Hill has scored 11 touchdowns from inside the 5-yard line. That's punching the ball in with efficiency.

"If you got a third-and-short, or a fourth-and-short, you know he's going to get that extra yard because if he gets hit, he's falling forward, he's not going to fall backwards," right guard Kraig Urbik said.

Hill has also been a big part of Wisconsin's 43 percent conversion rate on third downs — fourth-best in the Big Ten — and its 40-for-47 scoring rate when penetrating the red zone.

But the most telling statistic of all? The Wisconsin offensive unit lost eight starters from 2005, was consistently dominated by its defensive counterpart in spring and summer camp, and likely would have taken all the blame if rookie head coach Bret Bielema's first year turned out to be a disaster.

But the offense ended up averaging 29.8 points a game, second-best in the conference only to top-ranked Ohio State.

"A lot of people doubted us, but that just comes with starting from the bottom, working your way up to the top as a football program," Hill said. "We just worked at it, and now we're in a pretty good position as of today."

First-year running backs coach John Settle said he never would have foreseen such a resounding success in the running game this early in Hill's career.

"I love the way he runs the ball, his style, I love that style of running," Settle said. "We just have to be smart with him, keep him healthy. We just got to make sure we play him and that we're smart with how we rest him."

And Bielema said the best part about having a player like Hill will be the opportunity to continue his growth through the coming years and develop him into a very special back, hopefully to receive more national attention than he did this year.

"The best thing about having a freshman in the role he is — is I know we've got good coaches, and I know we've got good players around him," Bielema said. "You've got to believe if he's able to receive [coaching] the same way that he has to this point, as he gets more and more involved in his career, he'll get better every day."

Slipping through the cracks

When he was being recruited, All-American left tackle Joe Thomas had the nation's best schools fighting each other to get their hands on him. Quarterback John Stocco was courted heavily by Minnesota before spurning his home state for the rival Badgers.

Hill dealt with no such competition, at least not on as large a scale. After Wisconsin, the schools that took a serious look at Hill were Indiana, Vanderbilt, Syracuse and the Badgers' next opponent this Saturday, Buffalo.

How was a guy who has received murmurs about Heisman consideration as a freshman so overlooked? Settle believes Hill was just one of those rare players who eventually emerges as a top collegiate athlete, when not many recruiters thought he would.

"Everywhere I've been, everybody you talk to at different universities, there's always somebody that slips through the cracks," Settle said. "I think that the guys here saw something in him that they liked. It's just one of the things of recruiting."

Brian White, UW's running backs coach at the time of Hill's senior year, had a big hand in getting the kid from East Elmhurst, N.Y., to Madison, and Wisconsin is reaping the benefits now. In fact, even Hill himself was originally more surprised by the Wisconsin part of his college list than the other four.

"I'm surprised that Wisconsin chose me, because they're one of the schools that produced the best backs, and that's what mainly made me come here," Hill said.

Aside from UW's illustrious running history, Hill wanted to attend a university that would groom him academically as well as on the football field.

"Academics are very important," Hill said. "I looked at Wisconsin, the academics and the football history, and I was like, 'They have pretty good academics, and I get to be on a pretty good football team. They can help me be the best back I can be,' so that's why I made this decision."

Hill said he's grateful that Wisconsin gave him an opportunity to prove that a big, bruising guy without blazing speed could succeed in a big-time running environment, particularly one that is coming off the heels of an exciting year of Brian Calhoun.

"Since I've been playing football, I've had the whole thing about not having enough speed, just being a physical back," Hill said. "But I've always thought it wasn't about really having speed, it's how you play on the field. Every time I go out on the field, that's what I show the coaches: that I can play this game, my game."

Are other schools now regretting not giving Hill a look?

With a grin, Hill says, "I think so." There's that shyness again, that look that says he knows he should have been more heavily recruited but is just too darn respectful to declare it.

Big brother, little brother

Another great example of Hill's boyishness is reflected through his relationship with backup Lance Smith. A true freshman out of Warren, Ohio, Smith has proven through the carries he's earned that he'll be more than capable to carry the load for a big-time collegiate program.

Smith is the team's second-leading rusher with 312 yards and four touchdowns, and stepped in with a good effort Oct. 28 against Illinois — 46 yards and a touchdown on a season-high 21 carries — when Hill left in the third quarter with a neck injury. Thus, with Hill and Smith potentially sticking around in college until the 2009 season, UW coaches would certainly relish the thought of a long-term one-two punch, not to mention a capable backup to Hill should he fall to injury in the future.

What may be essential for that proposition is the clear-cut bond between the two freshman runners. Settle refers to the young pair as a "big brother, little brother" combo.

"They're two good guys," Settle said. "They joke back and forth and that kind of thing, so they have a great relationship. My hope is that they're here for a long time to be as they let their relationship grow further."

Hill and Smith first met at the beginning of the 2005 season, when Hill was starting his first days of camp and Smith was still a senior at Howland (Ohio) High. When Smith made his decision to come to Wisconsin, he reunited with Hill, and the two hit it off and became fast friends.

"We talk about football, and he tells me what I need to work on," Smith said. "I think that's a lot of help as a freshman to be able to come in and to be able to have [Hill] be able to tell you what you need to work on. I think that's very important to have a relationship like that."

With Hill bringing the thunder and Smith the lightning to the combination, Settle and UW's offense have benefited from throwing different looks at Wisconsin opponents.

"I think those guys understand that they each bring something different to the table," Settle said. "P.J.'s a pounder, a more physical guy; Lance comes in quicker, flashier, more of a slasher; so they're a good one-two punch when it comes to attacking a defense, because they have to know who's on the field."

Hill and Smith, now travel roommates, both said they're grateful for the fact they each have a good number of years in front of them to grow as football players and as good friends.

"I tell him he's my little brother, anytime, even off the field I check on him," Hill said. "We hang out, I'll go pick him up once in a while and have him chill at my place. That's great, we start that young and build the relationship. We've never had any problems between each other. I just want to keep that going."

"It's a P.J. Hill game"

It's been almost tiring at times, for Hill and Bielema, to hear the constant comparisons of Hill to 1999 Heisman winner Ron Dayne, the ex-Badger running back who also looked for the contact and bruised his way to a successful season. Dayne, like Hill, was a freshman standout, rushing for 2,109 yards in his rookie season of 1996.

While Hill admits that hearing White talk about Dayne on his recruitment visit perked his interest in the Badgers, he brushes off any talk of being directly compared to the NCAA's all-time rushing leader.

"It really doesn't matter to me," Hill said. "[Dayne's] a good back to be compared to, but I just want to be looked at as having a P.J. Hill style; I just like people to notice my running style. Mentioning Ron Dayne, he had his time here, now he's on to bigger and better things; now I'm just taking advantage of my time that I'm here."

Bielema articulated on this notion after Wisconsin's 24-3 victory over Purdue, throwing Dayne comparisons for a loop when asked if Hill's 161-yard, two-touchdown performance was a "Ron Dayne game."

"It's a P.J. Hill game," Bielema said matter-of-factly. "He's a guy that has got ability and got a lot of things that make him who he is. I think he understands and knows what his strengths are as well as his weaknesses."

With up to three years and change left for Hill in Madison, there's a lot of time for the young runner to grow into, as Hill's said many times, "the best back he can be."

And Settle vows to make sure his starting back stays motivated to come back even stronger in 2007.

"My hope for him is that it makes him even hungrier in the offseason," Settle said. "We'll give him a few days to enjoy it and look back on it, and trust me, doing winter workouts and some other tough times through the offseason, I'll probably mention [the stats].

"I don't think that there's any room for complacency in this sport, and I think if he's able to put up a certain amount of yards this year, then next year he has to look to better that."

Was this a dream season, to go from enduring an offseason full of doubt to landing in the top 10 of the BCS rankings?

"I don't feel it's really a dream," Hill said, before hesitating and continuing, "well, it is a dream, this is always what I wanted to do, I always wanted to be a football player, always wanted to be a major role on the team. When it's time for big games, I always wanted to be able to make big plays, so I'm living my dream. I'm just going to keep riding this dream as far as I can go."