Hill remains king of Badgers, but imagine the feats of Clay

MADISON, Wis. -- Imagine having no idea.

Imagine walking into Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday night, thinking you have a plan in place. A solid plan. You're going to see No. 14 Ohio State play No. 18 Wisconsin, and there's a running back you can't wait to watch. His name is P.J. Hill, and he's fascinating.

John Clay has a punishing running style and presents a RB controversy for Wisconsin. (AP)

Wisconsin lists him at 5-feet-11 and 236 pounds, which means he's probably more like 5-9, 250. He's a junior, and he's on pace to run for more than 5,000 career yards. You can't wait to see him. That's your plan.

Imagine, by the second quarter, being bummed every time P.J. Hill runs onto the field.

Because by the second quarter, you've seen enough of P.J. Hill.

You want to see his backup.

In some ways, this should be no surprise. Wisconsin always has great running backs, emphasis on the plural. Not a great running back, singular. Great running backs. So it's not unusual for the Badgers to have a guy sitting behind P.J. Hill who might actually be better than P.J. Hill.

Wisconsin's run of running backs began in 1991 with Brent Moss sharing time with Terrell Fletcher. Then along came Ron Dayne, who became the NCAA's career rushing leader, which meant eventual first-round pick Michael Bennett had to spend a year on the bench before getting his turn. Bennett begat Anthony Davis begat Brian Calhoun begat P.J. Hill. All of them ran for more than 1,475 yards in a season.

And this kid here, this John Clay, could be the best of them all.

Some day. He's only a freshman, so give him time.

But imagine having no idea John Clay existed before OSU-Wisconsin kicked off, and by halftime scrambling on the Internet for any and all information you can find on the kid.

Turns out, he's a well-known commodity in the state. As a running back in Racine, he became the only player in Wisconsin history to make first-team all-state three years in a row. By the end of his senior season, longtime football observers were wondering if John Clay wasn't just the best football player in the state -- they were wondering if he was the best player the state had ever produced. Apparently the debate has come down to Clay vs. Kenosha's Alan Ameche, who went on to win the Heisman for the Badgers and play for the Baltimore Colts.

So who is John Clay? What is John Clay? He's 6-feet-2, 237 pounds, and he's chiseled, and he's fast. This isn't a sloppy fat-back like P.J. Hill or Ron Dayne, no offense intended. Hill and Dayne are brilliant runners, gifted with great vision and feet, but they're not as explosive as Clay. The first time I noticed Clay -- the first time my plan to focus on P.J. Hill went to complete crap -- was in the second quarter when he hit the hole on consecutive carries and burst into the secondary in a way that P.J. Hill never could.