Receiving little help

We've talked much lately about the Badgers' mediocre passing attack. In fairness to Allan Evridge, his best receiver, Travis Beckum, has played only 2-1/4 games because of injury this year, and his second-best receiver, Garrett Graham, has missed the first two Big Ten games.

The problem here is not just the injuries, but the fact that beyond our two superlative tight ends, we have little consistency at the wide receiver position. We have plenty of promising young players who have shown signs of becoming playmakers, but so far, none of them has progressed into a producer along the lines of Luke Swan, Brandon Williams, or any of them many other above-average wide receivers we've had.

Look at the depth chart. All five wide receivers listed on the two deep are sophomores (David Gilreath, Daven Jones, Kyle Jefferson, Isaac Anderson) or freshmen (Nick Toon). Maurice Moore also factors in, depending on his health. It's not a stretch to think that at least two of these guys will become 40-catch receivers at some point in their career, maybe even average 15 yards per catch. But right now they're either too small (Gilreath, Anderson, Moore), too skinny (Jefferson) or need to work on their hands (Toon, albeit only going on the TD drop at Michigan).

Plenty of recruiting misses, in addition to a lack of signees at the position, have led to this overreliance on youth.

In the class of 2004, which would be redshirt seniors this year, our only wide receiver recruits were Marcus Randle El and Jarvis Minton, and Randle El wasn't definitely going to play wideout. Obviously neither one of these guys panned out, although Randle El was great at running the fake end around.

In the otherwise very productive class of 2005, which would be true seniors or redshirt juniors this year, our wide receiver recruits were Jarmal Ruffin and Elijah Theus.

There's also the matter of the wide receivers' coach. For so long Henry Mason tutored the wideouts, and drew wide praise for his coaching and his recruiting. DelVaughn Alexander has replaced Mason during the latter's recuperation from injury, and while I don't know enough about coaching receivers to question Alexander's methods -- how many different drills can there be to help guys work on their hands? -- it makes you appreciate even more Mason's influence on the Badger passing game over the years.

So we have is a corps of receivers who would have been better served playing complementary roles this early in their careers, like Jefferson did so well early last year. Were Beckum and Graham healthy, that is where they would likely still be. Since the tight ends' health is going to be touch and go all year, our pups need to grow up in a hurry.

The offense

Was reading a column this evening, think it was by Tom Oates of the State Journal, about the Badgers' quarterback situation. He had a line that said something to the effect of "It doesn't really matter who the UW quarterback is, as long as he's not terrible. With the running backs on the roster, especially now that Clay is showing he's the real deal, the quarterback won't be asked to do all that much."

That sentiment makes sense. But here's why I don't feel really confident with the offense heading into the 2008 season with a highly suspect passing game.

1. I don't think this offensive line is a road grading line. It's a good line, to be sure. Kraig Urbik is a terrific player, Gabe Carimi has star potential at left tackle, and the rest of the returnees are seasoned. But - and you can argue with me - I think the UW offensive lines of recent seasons have been somewhat overrated. They're good, but they're riding the reputation of the damn good blockers of a decade ago. This line doesn't have an Aaron Gibson or Bill Ferrario who's going to open huge holes.

So while I like our backs, and think each one of them brings some valuable attributes to the table, I still don't think the running game will be dominant enough to carry the offense by itself.

2. With each passing day I'm more bearish about our current group of wideouts. There's a lot of talent there - Kyle Jefferson especially, but several other guys as well - but something's missing. Henry Mason is missing. He was the constant with all of those NFL-caliber receivers we sent to the next level over the past decade. Jefferson's production tailed off at the end of last season when he was asked to carry a bigger load, David Gilreath is only like Brandon Williams in his return ability right now, and the rest of the guys have basically done nothing.

Two years ago, Luke Swan and Paul Hubbard had basically done nothing, but they had a three-year starter at quarterback and Mason coaching them.

3. Because of this, Travis Beckum is going to get more attention than ever. He's damn good, but if opposing defenses can get by with single coverage on the wideouts, they can bracket Beckum with a linebacker and safety and limit what he can do.

4. For all my recent optimism about the defense, it still has the chance to be really bad this season. As such, there's a good chance the Badgers will be playing from behind, which of course limits what you can do in the run game and puts more pressure on the quarterback to make plays in the passing game.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and think Allan Evridge is the second coming of Jim Zorn, but right now I'm pessimistic.

All our ree-cruits live in Texas ... and Florida

My Hotmail inbox has been flooded with messages from Scout over the past couple days updating me on new Badger football commitments. Here are the last four:

CB Marcus Cromartie, Arlington, Texas (two pictures of him at right)
DT Eriks Briedis, Miami
DE Anthony Mains, Naples, Florida
CB Devin Smith, Coppell, Texas

Scrolling down the list we see:
S Shelton Johnson, Lewisville, Texas
S Kevin Claxton, Lauderdale Lakes, Florida

So that makes three recruits apiece from Florida and Texas. Without going back and analyzing past recruiting classes, I'd guess this is the most we've gotten from either state in a single recruiting class, and to get six from the two combined is an eye-opener. By contrast, we've only got one recruit from Ohio, and none from New Jersey, out-of-region areas that have been good to us. Maybe Henry Mason's health problems have hurt us in Ohio.

Florida isn't that much of a surprise, given Bielema's background there. Elijah Hodge, Zach Brown, and Aaron Henry are already contributing. Texas has me worried, though. Who of note have we pulled from that state? The only one who comes to mind is Michael Broussard, and he flamed out quickly.

I'm not saying we should intentionally stay away from Texas, or anywhere else for that matter - if there's a potential contributor in Alaska bring him in - but if we're going to focus on "hotbeds" I don't think Texas is a place to focus. This usually ties in to who your assistants are. Whatever, now that they're almost Badgers, I hope they set the world on fire.

Of all those guys, Cromartie is the most intriguing. Toohey keeps asking if he's the brother of Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie - probably not, since Marcus is from Arlington, Texas, and Antonio is from Tallahassee. Isn't the difference in the two mug shots of him above hilarious? Why is it a requirement for football players to act like hard asses in their official mugs? That said, I want to see the guy on top show up for coach B, ready to smack someone.

Calling O-H-I-O

SATURDAY ADDITION: Jim wrote a nice story on the Glenville connection in today's Cap Times, read it here. It's sort of buried on madison.com, but it's very well done and worth a read.

Most of you know that I spent my first two years post-UW in a humble little state called Ohio. It was an interesting time. Basically, my buddy Mike Pidanick and I would work 90 hours a week and play Madden and NHL ’96 for the other 78 hours. In warm months we added daily golf, with one year on the links accounting for 95% of my lifetime rounds.

We also spent lots of time watching high school sports, and after returning to Wisconsin I couldn’t help but think: the level of play and athleticism is significantly higher in Ohio. The difference was most noticeable in basketball, where athleticism is easier to spot. But the football players were also better. My second year there, Ben Roethlisberger came into Fremont and threw eight touchdown passes against our hometown boys. Eight! I can’t even begin to imagine a kid doing that in Wisconsin.

This has been on my mind more than usual since we play Ohio State this week. Let’s face it, the Buckeyes are going to take just about anyone they want from the state, but there are still lots of good guys left over. Lots of them end up playing in the MAC. I’m not saying we should be competing with Toledo and Kent State for recruits every year, but would Roethlisberger, Charlie Frye (who we also covered), or any of those other MAC stars contributed at UW? Damn right they would have. But we can also get high-level talented kids that would excel at OSU.

Henry Mason’s efforts have been outstanding mining talent from that state. I may be off a year or two here (Jim can help me out), but in the years preceding Mason’s arrival in Madison, we didn’t get much from Ohio. Kevin Huntley – a Crimson Streak from Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic – was a solid four-year contributor. But after Mason arrived came a line of real standouts: John Favret, Chris Chambers, Mike Echols, Chad Kuhns (a Bellevue Redman), Lee Evans. Russ Kuhns, Delante McGrew, and Dontez Sanders were starters. On today’s team, Jason Chapman and Kyle Jefferson and standouts, Lance Smith is good when he’s eligible, Shane Carter is making plays, and Otis Merrill, Prince Moody, Daven Jones, Brandon Kelly, and Bill Nagy are also on the roster, most with a chance to contribute some day. All except Moody are northern Ohio, most of them Northeast Ohio, guys.

The Ohio connection, in particular Bedford/Cleveland, is the best pipeline we have going right now. St. Louis was great for awhile – the Fletchers, Bryant, Starks, etc. – and we’ve got Wes Kemp coming next year. It is vital to the future of this program to keep these alive. We can only get so much out of Wisconsin, the Twin Cities should theoretically be more competitive with Brewster at the U, and Zook and Weis should take more of Chicago than we’re used to. New Jersey is another goldmine, but the rise of Big East football, Schiano at Rutgers in particular, and Penn State's return to relevance will make it tougher to get Ron Daynes out of that region.

I love how the Bedford kids talk about Chambers and Evans with such reverence, hopefully Jefferson can keep the tradition going.

As for tomorrow’s games, I have low hopes, but that’s okay. We ought to be a significant underdog, whether PJ plays or not, and have a chance to pull a stunner. My sense is that we will overachieve and play just well enough to lose by single digits. There’s nothing wrong with Ohio State, but the fact that they’re the clear-cut #1 nationally is more a reflection of college football’s dearth of elite teams than a reflection of their dominance. Last year’s OSU team would beat this year’s by 20.

Prediction: Ohio State 20, Wisconsin 16

Wisconsin-Penn State postgame thoughts

Well, we won't have to worry about rankings or conference races or anything like that for awhile. Maybe I should just move back to Ohio; the two years I lived there, the only two years I've lived outside of Wisconsin since 1983, were Rose Bowl years.

This team reminds me of the 2000 team. High expectations and top five ranking at the start of the year, some turmoil, getting by with some close wins early in the season, then it all snaps. That team had the Shoe Box and a bunch of NFL players; this team had/has a couple of bad seeds and some players who might become NFL players. That team had a four-game losing streak in the middle of the season, and I don't see that, but 4-4 in Big Ten play and a lower-tier bowl is reasonable.

This thought has been popping into my head lately: this team looks poorly coached. But that probably isn't the case, because the same staff did a great job last year (minus the always underrated Henry Mason, and DelVaughn Alexander, his replacement, has done a credible job considering his two starters have gone down). Last year's team got better every week during conference play; this year's team seems to be getting worse. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and blame the injuries, but if we cut down on all the mental errors, we have a shot in this one.

Shaughnessy played well today. He's not dominating, but he's been strong.

Was Royston in for Pleasant? Was it injury related, or performance related? Does it matter?

Injuries to and defections on the front seven have been fatal. As much as we can point at the LBs and DBs missing tackles, today their backs were getting to the second line with a full head of steam, untouched through the line. I don't think those players are worse than they were last year, they're dinged up and the depth behind them is non-existent.

Offensive line play has been okay, not horrible, not terrific.

Xavier Harris made a catch, slightly encouraging.

Really upset that we gave up on the run in the second half. The game was decided four minutes in - why not work on getting a rhythm in the run game rather than racking up desperation passing yards against a semi-prevent and setting Donovan up to get battered?

Penn State has a chance to run the table in the Big Ten, but they won't win it. Good team, but we made them look better than they really are.

Aaron Henry had a nice sack on a blitz, first time I remember seeing him since The Citadel game.

Good catch out of the backfield by Brown. He's not as big an asset as Smith at RB, but he's not a liability either. Smith's absence didn't cost us either of these last two games.

Guessing the shore sheet will show a lot more explosive plays - 20+ yards - yielded by the defense, but there were probably even more plays from 15-19 yards that were just as painful. No one has had to grind out scoring drives this season, the scores come quickly.

PSU's second string QB made a run where Casillas made the tackle about 5-7 yards after he could have. The defense is playing either tentatively or, as stated in the last post, overly aggressive. It's a mental thing as much as anything now. We can talk about the new starters, but guys who played really well last year are struggling, too.

The second half's boring nature allowed me to watch Kentucky-LSU and Boston College-Notre Dame a lot and see Woodson and Ryan. They're good, not wow! good today, but doing what they have to do.

Offensive prediction recap, actual numbers second:
PJ: 23 carries, 29 yards, 1 TD - 19 carries, 75 yards, 1 TD
Donovan: 19-29, 211 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT - 16-29, 220 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Beckum: 8 catches, 94 yards - 5 catches, 70 yards
Jefferson: 3 catches, 49 yards - 6 catches, 124 yards - great game
Graham: 1 catch, 7 yards, 1 TD - 3 catches, 18 yards, 0 TD

Think I picked up that Musberger will be calling the NASCAR race on ABC tonight - sounds like a premise for an SNL sketch, with Kevin Nealon as Musberger. "Hang on a second - HE'S TAKING TWO NEW TIRES, FOLKS!" I'll skip that.