Wisconsin running backs John Clay and Montee Ball have much in common when it comes to their high school careers.
Both were stud running backs who averaged over eight yards-per-carry, posted over 30 touchdowns in a season and won player of the year awards in their respective states.
But the two had very different roles in their teams' passing games.
Ball, a true freshman, said that while he didn't catch a lot of passes his senior year, he still put up solid receiving numbers over his four years at Timberland High School in Wentzville, Mo.
""My high school coach saw that I had some hands, so he made a lot of plays for me coming out of the backfield to catch the ball,"" Ball said.
Clay, on the other hand, was more blunt when asked if he ever caught the ball for Washington Park High School in Racine.
""No, we just ran the ball in high school,"" he said.
That would explain why, heading into Saturday's game against Ohio State, Clay had one career reception for two yards that came in garbage time of a blowout loss to Iowa last year. However, that was one more than Ball, who had only seen sporadic playing time in two games this season because of a battle with pneumonia and the death of his grandfather.
That all changed Saturday when junior running back Zach Brown went down with a concussion, forcing Clay and Ball to take on an increased role in the passing game to make up for losing Brown.
""The way Ohio State was playing us, some of the stuff wasn't open downfield, and we just had to take the checkdowns,"" junior quarterback Scott Tolzien said. ""Sometimes it's just a dink pass, but sometimes a missed tackle here or there and those can break into big plays.""
While Clay caught three passes for 11 yards and Ball finished with two catches for 22 yards, both looked comfortable blocking and receiving out of the backfield on passing plays.
According to running backs coach John Settle, that alone is an accomplishment, particularly for Clay, who struggled early in his career learning pass-blocking schemes. But Settle added that the benefits of getting Clay involved in the passing game were too great to allow him to fail.
""If he gets the ball in the secondary one-on-one with a linebacker or a defensive back, we feel like we have a chance to win that match up, the later in the game the better,"" Settle said.
Ball's success on Saturday came as no surprise to Settle, who said the freshman impressed coaches with his receiving abilities as soon as he arrived on campus.
""All of the drill stuff we do, all of the things that he did throughout the summer by getting here early, it proved to us that he can catch the ball and that he can definitely be a threat in the passing game,"" Settle said. ""When John's not available, Montee's able to go in there and get us what we need.""
Ball and Clay may see more dump-off passes this Saturday as the Badger's face an undefeated Iowa team ranked first in the Big Ten in passing defense. That doesn't bother Tolzien, who said he's more than happy to drop it down to his running backs when nothing is open downfield.
""Those guys are dangerous with the ball,"" he said. ""I'm confident they can break tackles and turn it into a big play.""
