Wisconsin suffers its worst transfer portal hit yet and fans are in full panic mode

The Badgers have had some frustrating losses already in the portal, notable names like Trech Kekauna and Eugene Hilton Jr., but today they suffered the biggest one yet: starting running back Dilin Jones.

Jones is headed into his redshirt sophomore year and was going to be the featured back for the Badgers next season. He was in line to receive the most amount of carries with a newly built offensive line in front of him and a new starting quarterback. However, he decided instead to pursue a new opportunity when the portal opens on January 2nd. Wisconsin fans are hitting the panic button as not keeping Jones shows a lack of investment in some of the Badgers' best players.

Here's a short sampling of fan reactions:

Dilin Jones is headed to the portal, what does Wisconsin do now?

Related: Wisconsin football transfer portal tracker: Who's out, in, and the speculation

The reality is, the Badgers have three running backs that deserve to be starters, and not all of them can be. When Jones got injured, Gideon Ituka carried the ball really well, and then Darrion Dupree when Ituka went down. There may be some thought that one of the three had to move along. It's surprising that it's Jones, as he was considered the starter; it's not surprising that one of the three decided to jump in.

Luke Fickell now has to turn up the investment into those other two, so the trend doesn't continue. The Badgers will need at least two horses out of the backfield. If the offensive line can do a better job of getting things rolling for their running backs, the Jeff Grimes offense will want to have multiple backs exploding out of the backfield.

This is now the second running back to announce they are leaving for the portal. Cade Yacamelli announced earlier this month that he was also planning to depart Wisconsin.