Hill remains king of Badgers, but imagine the feats of Clay
Clay doesn't have Michael Bennett's borderline world-class speed, but he's faster than most of the great backs who came before him. He was a two-time state finalist on his high school sprint relay team, and his athletic ability is startling. In the fourth quarter, Clay popped into the secondary and hurdled a diving Ohio State safety, landing in stride and continuing down the field until his momentum took him out of bounds.
People who follow the 2008 Badgers say Clay already has trucked more defenders than Hill, in less than one-third the carries. Hill's style is to wiggle and avoid and finally drag tacklers. Clay's goal is to run through them.
All of this could become a public-relations problem for Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, what with the Badgers nearly eliminated from Rose Bowl consideration after losses to Michigan and Ohio State. There is still much to play for, but not so much that Bielema can't think about the future. What he has at the present is a respected veteran, Hill, who ran for 1,569 yards as a freshman and 1,236 as a sophomore and has 512 in five games as a junior, putting him on pace for 1,300 yards or more.
But the backup might be better.
While Hill was dragging tacklers and pushing the pile for 63 yards on 16 carries against Ohio State, Clay was exploding for 69 yards on only 10. He carried the ball on just two Wisconsin drives -- the two drives in which the Badgers scored a touchdown. Hill was the feature back for the rest of the game, and in all of those series, the Badgers managed a single field goal. They lost 20-17.
Clay's weakness is inexperience. He popped a 46-yard gain last week against Michigan, but then missed an assignment and didn't play again. He doesn't have Hill's ability to block or receive, to understand the offense, but he might have more big-play potential than any Badgers back since Bennett was sprinting for 1,681 yards in 2000.
The numbers don't lie. P.J. Hill is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. John Clay is averaging 6.7.
Hill is still fascinating. But John Clay might be better.
Imagine that.
