Following the conclusion of spring camp, BadgerBlitz.com will take a look at each position group and where they stand with the final phase of the offseason wrapping up.

We'll continue our offensive overviews with the running backs.

Dilin Jones.

Entering spring, the RB1 job was up for grabs — perhaps more than any other starting job on offense. It’s still technically up in the air. But, as of the end of spring, Jones looks like the best back in the room.

He and Darrion Dupree are both second-year backs with the most obvious RB1 upside. Dupree became a part of the rotation last season, while Jones mostly only entered during garbage time.

Yet, when seeing them side-by-side this spring, Jones looked like the better and more complete back. He clearly spent a lot of time in the weight room over the offseason, but doesn’t look any slower. If anything, the extra strength enables him to run with more fury.

Jones’ performance in the spring showcase, when we could finally see him face real tackling, pretty much sealed it for me. He was able to bounce off of bigger defenders in a way I wish I saw more from Dupree last season.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes lauded Jones as a “tough,” “aggressive” and “decisive” runner.

“Runners, sometimes, can be effective when they wanna stop their feet and try to make a guy miss, but the time to do that is not when you’re in the a-gap and you have people who are fighting to make their blocks. The time to do that is when you’re in the open field,” Grimes explained in mid-April.

“So his willingness to stick his foot in the ground and make a vertical cut and get north and south and run through would-be tacklers is the thing that sticks out to me more than anything.”

Last year, the Badgers tried to operate without a true RB1 for the first few weeks and it didn’t work. Based on Grimes’s history, he likes to have a clear top back. Jones seems like the favorite to win the RB1 sweepstakes.

Darrion Dupree

While the top job was up for grabs, Dupree entered with a slight edge. He played the most of any back on the current roster last season and even earned slightly more first team reps than the other guys early in spring.

He eventually dealt with injuries, which makes it tough to truly judge his performance. But I left spring feeling mostly underwhelmed by what I saw from Dupree.

I’ve been waiting, in every game and practice since Dupree showed up, for him to look like the RB1 that his physical profile suggests he could be.

Dupree was the RB2 last season, behind Tawee Walker, and ran 79 times for 317 rushing yards and one touchdown. Yet I never thought that Dupree adequately took advantage of his opportunities. He simply never looked like a very dangerous or explosive runner. Only one of his 79 carries surpassed 15 yards

Because the offense was so dysfunctional, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I didn’t see anything in spring that changed my opinion.

I understand his physical upside, but I’ve yet to see it consistently manifested. His talent is still too theoretical.

Can Gideon Ituka crack the rotation?

The 2024 class featured three backs — Dupree, Jones and Ituka. The former two entered as four-star prospects and thus garnered more hype and expectations. But Ituka showed this spring that he’s not too far behind.

He may have been recruited by Phil Longo, but he’s a perfect fit for Grimes’ system — a physical, between-the-tackles runner who thrives on the type of contact runs that have been missing from this offense over the last two years.

The issue is that Cade Yacamelli also fills this niche. He’s the strongest and most physically developed back in the room, and will likely earn the majority of those short-yardage opportunities.

But I can’t stop thinking about the spring showcase. In his limited reps that day, Ituka ran through multiple bigger defenders and showed a level of physicality that we’ve rarely seen from anybody on the roster, including Yacamelli.

Luckily for Ituka, Grimes doesn’t seem too obsessed with having a set number of players at each position.

“I think we'll probably have three or four guys who play there, and the guys who produce the most will certainly get more touches than others,” Grimes said shortly after taking the job in January.

If Ituka continues to produce in fall camp, they’re gonna have to figure out how to manage four rushers.

This is the space where we usually look at the true freshmen and class of 2026 commits for each position group. But there aren’t any running backs on the horizon.

The four aforementioned backs are the only four scholarship players in the room. This is a pretty big risk, health-wise. I wouldn’t be surprised if they added an extra body in the spring portal window.

But, more than anything, this is indicative of the coaching staff’s faith in the three 2024 backs. This trio should dominate the rotation for at least the next two years. In the meantime, however, they need to get to work on finding the next batch.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @_Perko_, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook