As construction crews tear potholes into the earth around the south end of Camp Randall Stadium, the 2002 Badger football season is underway with spring practice that began Saturday. Wisconsin is eager to erase the memory a disappointing 5-7 season that saw Wisconsin finish without a bowl, an axe or a home victory over Michigan.
Perhaps the gaping hole adjacent to the Field House symbolizes redemption and the chance to start anew for an explosive Badger team that looks to turn some heads not just in the Big Ten but in the nation come fall.
Senior wide receiver Lee Evans, one of the few pro prospects from last season that opted to return for another year of college football, will help, along with the senior leadership of quarterback Brooks Bollinger, lead a powerful Wisconsin offense that should be able to produce plenty of points this season.
The Badgers also return sophomore standout and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Anthony Davis at running back, a measurably stronger Darrin Charles at wide receiver and a very solid offensive line anchored by cousins Al and Ben Johnson.
Evans, Wisconsin's electrifying go-to wideout, is 1055 yards from breaking the all-time Big Ten career receiving yards mark.
Though he bypassed a shot at the National Football League to stay at Wisconsin, Evans will gain a year of maturity that will no doubt pay long-run dividends in his NFL campaign.
\Football is the ultimate team sport,"" Evans said. ""Regardless of the year I had last year, we were 5-7. If I start focusing on me, true, I may get mine, but as a team we're not winning, and that's what counts.""
When asked if he would trade 500 receiving yards for a national championship, Evans replied with the kind of championship attitude that kept him at Wisconsin.
""Any day,"" Evans said.
Bollinger echoed Evans' sentiment on the Badgers' 2001 season, ready to shed last season's downswings.
""It's definitely motivation when you've got to live with that everyday in the offseason. I think we've had a great off-season. It's just important for the older guys to express to the younger guys that that's not how it's supposed to be... and that we need to change it and hard work is the only way to do it,"" Bollinger said.
Bollinger has focused his off-season regimen on building flexibility to reduce his susceptibility to nagging injuries that have kept him sidelined at times in the past two seasons. In addition, he has focused on opening up his game to secondary receivers.
""We're trying to get the backs more involved and being able to throw down to the second and third receivers, if something is not open downfield,"" Bollinger said.
Spring football season is a time for players to gain strength'especially the younger players'and 6'6"" sophomore wide receiver Darrin Charles has gained considerable strength over the off-season. Charles, a true freshman last season and the No. 3 flanker, looks to improve on what he termed ""a learning freshman campaign.""
""I thought I should be able to produce more than I did [last season],"" Charles said. ""I also needed upper body strength as far as press coverage and things like that, but you know my legs struggled a whole lot more. I'm trying to maximize every opportunity that I have as far as reps and sets'just trying to put up more weight.""
In response to the level of his confidence since last year, ""I would say it at least doubled,"" said Charles. ""I feel pretty good right now. I feel I'm a different person on the field.""
Wisconsin's offensive prospects speak for themselves in terms of last season's production, and with the 2002 roster of returning playmakers and specialists. The defensive side of the ball, however, has great young talent b ut few returning starters and will need to prove itself in the fall.
Most defensive positions are open; the competition looks especially fierce at defensive back and linebacker, where some of the Badgers' best recruits play, to fill the big shoes that linebacker Nick Greisen and defensive lineman Wendell Bryant will leave behind.
A fine line can be drawn between playing in a bowl game and staying home for the holidays, and between a successful season or a bitter season, as the Badgers found out last season.
Spring brings promise and returning power to this Badger squad, however; it's the kind of feeling that may not have been as strong at this time last year.
""I think that everyone sees that [last season brought] a small margin of error. I think we use that to our advantage now,"" Evans said. ""Everybody needs to elevate their game, including me. Everybody from the top guy to the last guy has got to come up.\
