MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers held their 2025 Spring Showcase on Saturday afternoon inside Camp Randall, with a modest crowd of fans and family members.

It was the first time the Badgers have played in front of fans since the season-ending loss to Minnesota in November.

BadgerBlitz.com was on the scene for Saturday’s action. Here are my three biggest takeaways.

Modern safety rules have limited the number of full-contact practices allowed for each school. Of any position group, this might have the biggest impact on running backs. It’s difficult to gauge how strong or physical a player is when the defense isn’t really allowed to tackle. On Saturday, however, players were in full pads and uniforms. Despite their lack of recent experience, the running backs looked more than ready for the extra physicality.

Redshirt freshman Gideon Ituka looked like he’d been waiting for this day for years. He ran through bigger defenders on his way to multiple chunk runs, repeatedly finding space when there wasn’t any to be found.

Fellow redshirt freshman Dilin Jones isn’t quite as big and physical, but he showed glimpses of why he may be the odds-on favorite to win the RB1 job. Jones is the best all-around athlete in the room. He’s probably the fastest, and has even grown his body to be able to bounce off bigger defenders.

Redshirt junior Cade Yacamelli pulled off the biggest play of the day after ripping through the middle of the defense for a 55-yard rushing touchdown. But besides that play, I didn’t think he looked 100%. He was recently banged up and missed a day or two of practice. Him and Ituka are the biggest of the top running backs, but Ituka looked more ready for contact on Saturday.

This room’s hierarchy is still undecided, but I learned more about the running backs on Saturday than any other day of spring so far.