Wisconsin lost 23 players to the transfer portal last season, and most of them will find decent roles at their new school. Well over half are transferring to a lower-level school and will get more of an opportunity, while others used their success at Wisconsin to jump for a bigger payday. Dilin Jones is one of those, as he was able to sail off to SEC country and be in the running back stable for LSU. Now it looks like he may end up being the starter.
Yet, it doesn't matter. Not even a little. The one thing that Wisconsin did this offseason is absolutely upgrade the running back room. Luke Fickell and Jeff Grimes went out and got about three backs who could start at most schools and about five total who would get meaningful snaps anywhere.
Dilin Jones would have certainly factored into the equation had he stayed, because he's electric, but in what could feel like an "insult to injury" situation, the Badgers don't care. Good for Jones, but we can focus on our own stable of dynamic runners over here in Madison.
Jones didn't go into LSU with a clear path to starting; he took it. Showing that the best running backs still come from Wisconsin. According to LSU Tigers On SI, "On just day one of LSU's fall camp, Jones was seen dominating during running backs coach Kevin Smith's standard drills."
Dilin Jones may have proved Wisconsin is RBU as a transfer from Wisconsin to LSU
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Jones entered a room with Harlem Berry and Caden Durnham as the clear starters and yet immediately showed them up. Back to On SI, "Jones, being a new face to the squad and already taking leadership over veteran talent, is not a huge surprise. The sophomore running back was already becoming an offseason winner in the running back room, seen taking first-team snaps just two months after enrolling at LSU."
Wisconsin could clearly be sweating this, and maybe in previous years, when Fickell had no money to work with, it would be sweating it. Jones is a big loss. Then, of course, Wisconsin went out and grabbed Iowa State transfer Abu Sama III, one of the top running backs in the portal. That wasn't the end; the Badgers went and got Nate Palmer from TCU and Bryan Jackson from USC.
Yet, contentment still wasn't in that room; the final piece to the stable was JuJu Pope, the No. 1 JUCO running back and a former 4-star player. To top it all off, Darrion Dupree, who has a chance to be a huge factor for Wisconsin this season, was already in place.
Talk about loaded, and so watching Jones rise to the top at an SEC school really should make Wisconsin fans feel good. A player who left Wisconsin is already showing up these SEC runners at LSU. Who's the real RBU? It's still the Badgers, and it will always be the Badgers.
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