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2014 Wisconsin fall camp: George Rushing impresses, quarterbacks duel yet again

Joel Stave worked primarily with the first-team offense, plus more updates from Wednesday's afternoon practice.

By Jake Kocorowski

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Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

MADISON -- Through a week-and-a-half of fall camp, the Wisconsin Badgers have not had a day off. That will change come Thursday, after head coach Gary Andersen announced Wednesday that practice would be canceled:

I only saw sessions 8-to-12 Wednesday afternoon, but here's what I gathered:

George Rushing drawing attention

I like to temper enthusiasm for true freshmen coming into camp. Any talk and hype can be premature. It's only a week-and-a-half into camp, so the true adjustment to college life really doesn't start until classes begin, and a lot can happen between now and the first game on Aug. 30.

Wide receiver George Rushing is starting to challenge my timidness.

The 6'1, 190-pound athlete caught two touchdown passes from junior quarterback Joel Stave in red-zone skeleton drills, along with going up and making a nice reception from Tanner McEvoy -- contested heavily by a defensive back -- during 11-on-11 drills.

There are many true freshmen that have a chance of making a definite impact besides Rushing. Kicker Rafael Gaglianone has impressed with his accuracy and cannon for a leg distance. Rushing's counterparts at wide receiver, Natrell Jamerson and Krenwick Sanders, have flashed as well. Safety Lubern Figaro (pronounced Fi-GAR-o) has played opposite junior Mike Caputo with the No. 1 defense the past couple of days.

There's a nice mix of talented upperclassmen and freshmen on this year's team.

Stave and McEvoy: The dueling saga continues

I only saw them throw during red-zone skelly drills and some 11-on-11 work. Stave got most of the work with the No. 1 offense, with McEvoy getting the majority of the snaps with the 2s.

Also among the skelly highlights was Stave hitting Rushing for those two scores, along with McEvoy hitting Alex Erickson. I liked the zip on McEvoy's passes.

The bad during the skelly: McEvoy had a couple of overthrows to the tight ends, and Stave couldn't find some of the receivers in coverage.

Is Stave starting to grab a lead in the quarterback competition? Maybe, but then again, this is only what the media's seeing.

Notes

  • It was interesting to see some option work during practice. You saw very little read-option in 2013. From my vantage point, there may have been one read-option out of the shotgun (maybe pistol?) formation when Stave was in. One option play did not go as well, as the pitch between McEvoy and true freshman running back Taiwan Deal was fumbled and returned for a touchdown by senior inside linebacker Derek Landisch.
  • I didn't make it out to the morning practice, so here's a Twitter roundup of the a.m. news and notes:

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