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Badgers have their own fresh face
October 27, 2006
Like Illinois, which is leaning hard on true freshman quarterback
Juice Williams, Wisconsin also is depending on a youngster. Don't be surprised if the Badgers' redshirt freshman tailback,
P.J. Hill, trumps Williams for Big Ten freshman of the year.
The 5-11, 242-pound bruiser leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth in the nation in rushing with 146.5 yards per game. With 14 touchdowns (13 rushing), he's also the Big Ten's top scorer.
Hill, from Brooklyn-Poly Prep in New York, is the latest in a line of standout Wisconsin runners that includes Heisman Trophy winners
Alan Ameche and
Ron Dayne. Hill even is getting Heisman mentions as the media gropes for challengers to Ohio State's runaway leader,
Troy Smith.
"He's not as quick as other backs. He's a pounder," Wisconsin running backs coach
John Settle told Sports Illustrated in a piece about Hill's 161-yard, two-touchdown effort last week at Purdue.
Like Williams, Hill still makes freshman mistakes. Running a decoy assignment at Purdue, he prematurely turned upfield, drawing a motion penalty that wiped out a 30-yard pass play and left coach
Bret Bielema livid.
"It's hard to say 161 yards is a bad day," Bielema said. "But P.J. might have had his worst performance of the year."
? ? The biggest reason Illinois is 2-6 despite making strides on defense is its minus-11 turnover ratio, which is tied with North Carolina for the worst in the nation. The next-worst Big Ten team is Iowa, which is minus-six.
Among the 119 Division I-A teams, only Army (24 giveaways) has lost the ball more than Illinois (23).
