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Time for a sophomore slump?

Posted August 15, 2007 11:00 pm

Jay Taft

By Jay TaftROCKFORD REGISTER STARCHICAGO - Bret Bielema was a rookie head coaches in Division-I college football last year, and his star player had no more experience than he did.But the rest, as tailback P.J. Hill put it during the Aug. 1 Big Ten media day session, was "history in the making, baby."Hill rushed for 1,569 yards and 15 TDs while earning the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honor, and he led the league and was eighth nationally with a 120.7 yards-per-game average in 2006. Wisconsin bounced back nicely from longtime head coach Barry Alvarez's retirement to post a school-record 12 wins while tying Michigan for second place in the Big Ten."That was a special way to start off my career," Bielema said. "And the numbers tell you we have a chance to be a good football team again."But it always seems that people put a lot of emphasis into the sophomore slump theory, and even Bielema and Hill have heard the rumblings. Of course, neither believes a word of it."It's happened a couple of times out there - the old sophomore slump - so everybody thinks it will happen every time," said Hill, the 5-foot-11, 227-pound sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y. "It won't happen to us. No way."Hill will be the focal point of the Badgers offense again, but Bielema is hoping to relieve him of some of the stress of being the team's workhorse. The quarterback hole left by departed John Stocco will be filled by either Tyler Donovan (6-1, 185-pounds, senior) or Allan Evridge (6-2, 226, junior), but whoever is taking the snaps, he will have a solid wide receiver corps - led by senior Luke Swan, coming off a team-high, 5-touchdown season - to stretch opposing defenses."Everyone always worries about the quarterback," Bielema said a couple of weeks ago, "so whoever ends up being that guy, will have to be a major focus for us."It's tough all the way around. We did too good our first year, so you set yourself up for high expectations. I do know this, just like our season and like P.J.'s dealing with right now, it's better to have high expectations than low expectations."Even with Ohio State (Nov. 3 on the road) and Michigan (No. 10 at home) both on the schedule, and back-to-back no less, there are plenty of high expectations abound for the 2007 Badgers."We're fired up. Everyone's as hyped up for this season as any," Swan said. "Everyone's talking about a drop-off or something; we're going to be even better."College reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

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