Jan 2, 2012; Pasadena, CA, USA; Wisconsin Badgers running back Montee Ball (28) and tight end Jacob Pedersen (48) react after a touchdown in the second quarter against the Oregon Ducks in the 2012 Rose Bowl game at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Continuing our series of positional breakdowns by looking at the backs and tight ends. This is the bread-and-butter of the Badgers’ offense right here. And possibly the jam.

Breakdown

Running Backs

1. Montee Ball

A man who needs no introduction. If he’s not in the Heisman hunt at the end it will be a great shock. Has had a few bumps along the way this offseason but he seems to be fine after the concussion and, for now, all systems are go.

2. James White

Good enough to be a featured back, but with Montee Ball on the squad, he’s a #2. Of course at Wisconsin the #2 can put up #1 numbers. Will be integral to the offensive attack all year.

3. Melvin Gordon

He could probably carry the load as a #2 or even #1 back right now, but he’ll wait his turn.

4. Jeffrey Lewis

He’ll have a front-row seat to some great football games this season.

5. Kyle Zuleger

Special teams stand-out.

6. Vonte Jackson

Our Heisman candidate in 2015?

Fullbacks

1. Sherard Cadogan

Looking to fill a Bradie Ewing-sized hole in the Badgers’ line-up. That’s a tall task.

2. Derek Watt

J.J.’s brother has been moved over from linebacker to provide some depth at a thin position. He’s still learning how to play offense but could be a factor this year.

3. Derek Straus

4. Kevin MacCudden

Not a lot of experience between these two guys. Hence the decision to convert Derek Watt.

Tight Ends

1. Jacob Pedersen

He’ll be a huge part of the Badgers offense this year. A preseason John Mackey award candidate. Danny O’Brien will find him early and lean on him heavily.

2. Brian Wozniak

Injuries have hampered him. If healthy, could provide a downfield threat.

3. Sam Arneson

Blocking tight end who is improving his pass catching and could push Wozniak for the #2 job.

4. Brock DeCiccio

Pittsburgh transfer has a chance to play. He’s very big.

5. Austin Traylor

Highly-rated recruit and talented future star tight end. He won’t be needed this year with all the depth, obviously.

Lowdown

The Badgers always ask for big production from their running backs and tight ends, and this year will be no exception. The running attack should be devastating and the aerial attack should be solid with Jacob Pedersen providing a versatile target from the tight end spot. The question mark is fullback. Cadogan has a lot to prove and Derek Watt could end up starting there before it’s over. Matt Canada has lots of weapons to work with here and it should be fun watching him put this whole thing together.

Proof, you ask for? Well, it will be provided.

(more…)

But ignoring all that, we can highlight a smile-inducing fact regarding Wisconsin’s running back corps: they are hypothetical fantasy football monsters. Last year, as a team, the Badgers ranked second in the nation in rushing touchdowns with 48, and 12th in rushing yards with 3194. Wisconsin’s 5.47  yards per attempt was 7th best in the NCAA. Obviously Wisconsin boasts one of the top ground attacks in the country, year-in and year-out.

On an individual scale, that production is no less impressive. Despite no single Badger running back ranking in the top 30 nationally in terms of rushing attempts per game, the Badgers placed three backs in the top 50 yards per game standings. If we restrict the leaderboard to players with at least 100 rushing attempts, James White ranked fourth in yards/att at 6.74. Montee Ball’s 18 touchdown season was tied for 8th-best, even though five of the players ahead of him compiled at least 95 more attempts than him. And the big boy John Clay tied for 21st in total touchdowns despite playing in 11 games–most of the players ahead of him played in at least 13.

For fun, I’ve compared the fantasy scoring numbers for each of Wisconsin’s running backs to the leaderboard from the last NFL season. I scaled up each players’ production to 16 games proportionately to adjust for the longer season (that is, adjusting for the percentage of games missed in a season–White and Ball were adjusted to 14.77 games, Clay was adjusted to 13.54).

Using standard rules, the scoring breaks down as follows (note that averages are calculated over 16 total games):

Montee Ball:  255 points, 15.9 avg.
James White: 233 points, 14.6 avg.
John Clay: 228 points, 14.3 avg.

Ball, White, and Clay would rank 2nd, 3rd, and 5th on the ESPN running backs fantasy leaderboard, respectively. Montee Ball gets a huge boost from his late-season touchdown binge, when he scored 11 times in the final three games of the regular season. Only Arian Foster’s spectacular campaign exhibited as much dominance of the competition across the board as the Wisconsin backfield.

Of course, there were other collegiate rushers who had even more productive seasons than any of the Badgers–Oregon’s LaMichael James was the top RB by a huge margin with a stunning 23.0 adjusted scoring average. So for as good as they were, Wisconsin’s running backs obviously weren’t the top individual performers. But the real takeaway from this little experiment, contrived as it may be, is how impressive the production was for each of the Badgers’ three backs despite their shared workload. Timeshares in the backfield are a fantasy football nightmare in the NFL; Wisconsin’s three 2010 RBs barely missed a step. With John Clay moving on, Montee Ball and James White both have the potential to put up truly monstrous individual seasons in 2011 if they prove capable of splitting the workload between only each other.