BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — The 2017 Wisconsin Football Spring Game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Friday and the Badgers are eager to step on the field at Camp Randall Stadium.
Leading up to the spring game, UWBadgers.com Senior Writer Mike Lucas has broken down the Wisconsin roster, position by position. He's tackled the offensive line, inside linebackers, tight ends, defensive backs, running backs, outside linebackers and now turns his attention to the Badgers' wide receivers.
NOTES & NOTABLES
STARTERS VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN IN THE COTTON BOWL: Jazz Peavy and Quintez Cephus
PLAYERS RETURNING WITH STARTING EXPERIENCE: Peavy (14 starts), Cephus (5), George Rushing (1)
PLAYERS LOST WITH STARTING EXPERIENCE: Robert Wheelwright (17), Reggie Love (3)
LEADING RETURNING RECEIVERS: Peavy (43 catches, 635 yards, 5 touchdowns), Rushing (12, 136, 0), Cephus (4, 94, 0), A.J. Taylor (3, 53, 0)
LAST HURRAH
As George Rushing was readying for a post-practice interview, UW wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore playfully interrupted and reminded Rushing to speak up, and enunciate his words, loudly and clearly, drawing a laugh from the reticent Rushing. "He (Gilmore) wants to make sure I'm vocal and you understand what I'm saying," said Rushing, a native of Miramar, Florida. "I wouldn't say that I'm quiet. But I'm not a rah-rah guy. I talk when I need to. I don't necessarily talk if I don't need to."
Truth is, Rushing has not made much noise as a receiver, with just 16 catches in 39 games over his first three seasons. In 2016 he had 10 catches, nearly doubling his total from the first two years combined. He has also been used occasionally as a running threat on the jet sweep. Rushing realizes this is his last hurrah. "I feel like I got a lot better this spring," he said. "Personally, I feel like this has been the best football that I've been playing since I've been here. I've been trying to get better each day."
With the graduation losses of Jared Abbrederis and Jeff Duckworth (now a grad assistant), former Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen signed five wide receivers in his 2014 recruiting class. Rushing is the last one standing on offense and one of only two still in the program, along with Natrell Jamerson, who was converted into a cornerback. This spring, Jamerson made the transition to safety. As far as the others, Krenwick Sanders transferred; Dareian Watkins and Chris Jones never set foot on campus.
"When he says, 'Coach, what can I do?' I say, 'George, there's no magic pill. Do your job and do it consistently. That's what you need to do,'" Gilmore recounted. "If he can do that, he will help us. And he has had a good spring. Obviously, putting him at the X position (split end) helps him in terms of the routes that we run at that spot to utilize his speed. I've been pleased with what George has done."
As a veteran, Rushing has been trying to set an example. "I feel like every spring is important and that's the one thing I've been trying to show to the freshmen," he said. "Every practice, there's something you can work on. Even if you have your worst practice, if you got better in one way then it was good."
Rushing knows his career is on the clock, which accounts for the urgency. "When you get three years in one offense, you've got to know it by now," he said, adding that maturity has also made a difference in his makeup. "And, of course, going into your senior year, you want to have the best year possible."
Gilmore has been good for Rushing, whose dad was a tight end at the University of Florida in the early '90s. "Coach Gilmore has meant a lot to me," he said. "He has helped me out in a lot of ways, not just on the field. He's a good role model. He talks you through things and he coaches everyone the same. It's not like he has a favorite guy. You won't ever see that because he teaches the whole room."
NOTE TO QUOTE
Jazz Peavy didn't have a rushing attempt his first two seasons (15 games). Last fall, he became a jet sweep specialist and was UW's fourth-leading rusher with 21 carries for 318 yards (15.1) and one TD. He also had the longest run from scrimmage, 71 yards against Minnesota.
QUOTE TO NOTE
On the points of emphasis for Peavy during spring ball, Gilmore said, "That plan for Jazz has been to win at the point of contact where we've got to get more physical blocking out of him. That plan also involves Jazz when it becomes a physical game, when someone comes up and challenges him, we've got to get better at the line of scrimmage and we've got to get better at the top of routes creating separation. He's not the biggest guy, the strongest guy, so he has to become more savvy and more violent as far as with his hands. Those are the steps that I've wanted to see him take."
PRYOR IN THE MIX
Seeking to bolster depth, the Badgers took three wide receivers in their 2016 recruiting class, including A.J. Taylor and Quintez Cephus, both of whom contributed immediately as true freshmen. By design, Kendrick Pryor redshirted, which was not an easy decision. "At first I was kind of upset," said Pryor, who hails from Hazel Crest, Illinois (Homewood-Flossmoor High School). "But then I realized that the redshirt was only going to benefit me and I still have four years of eligibility left. Even though I wanted to come in and play right away, I used the year to get better — with my routes and the playbook — and get stronger. This spring, I've been trying to show what I can do to help the team out."
TAYLOR-MADE FOR THE SLOT?
Gilmore believes that Taylor, a prep running back in Kansas City, can have success as a slot receiver. "That way if we want to put Jazz on the outside lane, we can do it," Gilmore said. "We can move Jazz around — that has been the thinking. As time has gone on, he (Taylor) is getting more comfortable in the slot as far as the zones and the defenses and what they're giving you."
CEPHUS COPING
It has been a challenging month for Cephus, whose father, Andre Taylor, 39, was shot and killed outside of a Macon, Georgia, convenience store. "As you can imagine, he's dealing with a lot as far as emotions," said Gilmore. "Prior to that unfortunate incident, he was having a tremendous spring, he was playing at a really high clip, he was figuring out some things. He was further along than we thought he would be. Obviously now, we're just trying to get him through all of this."
Coaches and teammates have rallied around Cephus. "Everyone has reached out to him and called him — he might not want to talk to everybody right now, but he's progressing," Rushing said. "I know how rough times can be. I remember my freshman year, my grandmother got real sick and I went home after our Rutgers game to check on her. Last year, two weeks before the spring game, my cousin died of food poisoning. You try to push through things, but everybody deals with their own things in different ways. My mom always told me, 'You can either move with time or time will move past you.'"
YOUNG PUPS
Redshirt freshman Jack Dunn has piqued everyone's curiosity, including Gilmore's, with his competitive fire. The 5-foot-7, 175-pound Dunn, a walk-on, was a prolific running quarterback at Madison Edgewood, where he rushed 37 times for 363 yards and seven touchdowns against Fort Atkinson and 33 times for 337 yards and six touchdowns against Stoughton. "I give him a hard time about being vertically challenged, but you take that away and he's a football player," Gilmore said. "He's a tough kid and he competes. He really shows up when he has the ball in his hands after the catch. I love his toughness. If he keeps doing what he's doing, we'll find something for him to do because he deserves it."
Gilmore also praised another redshirt freshman, Adam Krumholz, a walk-on from Stoughton. "The other young man that has shown up and had flashes this spring is Adam," he said. "I'm challenging him on his toughness as far as on the perimeter. He's a big guy (6-1, 191) who runs well. Now we have to be more physical. We have to embrace that and we have to play to our size. We have to play big."
Once 6-2, 176-pound Deron Harrell fills out physically, he will provide Gilmore with a "big" target. For now, Harrell, a true freshman from Denver, an early enrollee, is trying to get up to speed with everything around him. "Obviously, he's playing catch-up, he's learning the system," Gilmore said. "We have to get him healthy and keep him healthy. He has never run like this before and it shows. Hopefully by the time the fall gets here, it slows down for him a little and he gets stronger, which will help him."
