There’s no doubt the one glaring part of the offense for the Wisconsin Badgers this past season was the lack of a running game and the lack of depth on the offensive line. With news coming out last week that running back Corey Clement will come back for one more year, look for both him and the offensive line to be a much improved unit next season.

Heading into this past season, the only thing really known about the offensive line is that the squad would be returning two solid players in redshirt senior Tyler Marz and redshirt junior Dan Voltz. Surrounding them was a who’s who of linemen that rotated more than the turnstiles at the entrance of Camp Randall Stadium.

With the musical chairs of swapping players in and out mainly due to injury, the o-line was never in sync the entire year and it really hurt the running game. The Badgers finished near the bottom of the Big Ten in rushing offense, something that rarely happens at a school that has been dubbed numerous times “Running Back U.” Wisconsin finished 10th in the conference, ahead of teams like Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue and Illinois, with an average of just 148.1 yards per game. The non-presence of Clement throughout most of the season had a part in that, but the main reason was the offensive line was very inexperienced and never had the same unit out there for consecutive games leading to no cohesiveness the entire year.

Clement had high aspirations of leading the conference in rushing and being one of the top backs in the country. That took an abrupt halt the first game of the season when he was held to just 16 yards on eight carries and it was found out after the game that Clement was dealing with an injury. The injury that would turn out to be a sports hernia and it would cost him the next seven games. Clement would return on Halloween to rack up 115 yards and three touchdowns. He would only play one more game out of the final three in the regular season which saw him reach the end zone but only gain 24 yards.

It will be interesting to see in the month off leading to the Holiday Bowl against USC just how well rested the line and Clement really are. It will also be very telling of what the future might hold next year for this squad.

But because of all the injuries up front this season, the younger guys were able to step in and gain valuable game experience. All that will do is help them going forward as more and more of vocabulary and situation make sense to them and the game starts slowing down. We have seen just how well Clement can play when he is 100% healthy. Now it’s time to see how successful this running game can be and he and this line return healthy and more experienced.

Look for the Badgers to return to form and return to the ground and pound they are known for in 2016. After all, they need to back up their moniker of Running Back U.