UW’s Ramesh ready to take on Iowa linebackers
MADISON – His return to practice went almost completely unnoticed outside the Wisconsin locker room.
That tends to happen when you play fullback and your backup scores three touchdowns while you’re home recovering from a head injury. Welcome back, Austin Ramesh. “He is healthy and the thing I like is he is playing behind his pads,” UW running backs coach John Settle said. “He is playing like a big back. He doesn’t look like it but he is 250-plus pounds.
“His blocking, the way he is attacking defenders, is eye-popping. That catches your eye.”
While Ramesh was recuperating last week, Alec Ingold caught an 18yard touchdown pass and scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in UW’s 45-17 victory at Indiana.
The return of Ramesh gives UW (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) two fullbacks to use as blockers, runners and perhaps receivers against Iowa (6-3, 3-3) when teams meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Ramesh, a 6-foot-1, 255-pound senior from Northland Pines High School in Eagle River, played in UW’s first eight games before being accidentally kicked in the back of the head in the first quarter at Illinois.
His ability to take on linebackers between the tackles or get out on the edge against smaller defenders has helped clear a path for freshman tailthe
back Jonathan Taylor, who leads the Big Ten in rushing (152.0 ypg).
“They trust me to throw it in there,” said Ramesh, who rushed for 1,670 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior at Northland Pines. “We play athletic linebackers and big linebackers, too. You’ve got to be able to handle speed and physicality at the position.”
Which body type is more difficult to block?
“I wouldn’t say one is tougher than the other,” Ramesh said. “It is just a different mentality you’ve got to go in with.
“If you are playing a speedy guy, a lighter guy, you have to know he has the ability to jump around the block and still make the play. You have to find the medium between going in there all-out and going in more under control.”
Iowa’s top three linebackers are sturdy, physical and experienced.
Josey Jewell, 6-2 and 236, leads the team in solo tackles (47), total tackles (92) and tackles for loss (9
Bo Bower, 6-1 and 235, is second on the team in tackles (60).
Ben Niemann, 6-3 and 233, is third (56).
All three are seniors. Jewell has 39 starts, Niemann has 36 and Bower has 35.
“We’re playing the same guys we’ve been playing for years,” Ramesh joked.
Ramesh has 10 carries for 34 yards and two touchdowns this season. He is effective on dive plays because of his size and burst. He scored on a 4-yard run against Ohio State last season, the first rushing touchdown allowed to that point by the Buckeyes. He also gained 10 yards on third-and-6 to secure the Cotton Bowl victory over Western Michigan.
“I like that they trust me to put the ball in my hands if we need a yard or two,” Ramesh said. “And I have complete faith in the line that they are going to get the yard for me. I just carry the ball, run in there as fast as I can and see what happens.”
Because of his mobility and soft hands, he can spread out wide, line up directly in front of the tailback, in an offset formation or on the line of scrimmage.
That makes it more difficult for defenses to identify where the ball will go if it is a running play.
“We can move him around now and expand his role,” Settle said. “He brings some versatility to our play-calling.”
Ramesh jokes he is a cross between a tight end and an offensive lineman, though closer to the former.
"I'm a little more nimble than the typical lineman," he said.
Offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph, who played guard at UW in the 1990s, compared Ramesh to former UW fullback Derek Watt, who is in his second season with the Los Angeles Chargers.
"I think Ram is having a really good year," Rudolph said.
"I’ve got a lot of confidence using him. We probably could use him in more ways than we have, splitting him out. He has a lot of ability.
"But I like the way he has been playing, the way he has competed in practice and what he has put on film."