John Gaskins · @937JohnGaskins
30th Jul 2015 from TwitLonger
Clement: #Huskers are a flip phone, #Badgers an iPhone." Full transcript. #B1G..
If Nebraska was looking for a saltier rivalry with their so-far Big 10 nemesis Wisconsin, they found a spark from the Badgers' heir apparent to Heisman Trophy finalist running back Melvin Gordon.
While describing his decision to commit to Wisconsin in the class of 2013, junior Corey Clement mentioned how impressed he was watching the Badgers steamroll Nebraska for 539 rushing yards in the 2012 Big 10 Championship game. And he easily remembered the 70-31 score.
He was watching from his home in New Jersey, at the time considering both the Huskers - he liked running backs coach Ron Brown - and the Badgers.
A few minutes later, I asked him why watching that game had such an influence on his decision to go to Madison.
"It's like, you've got an iPhone. Then you got a flip phone. You see all these great features the iPhone can do, and then you look at the flip phone, which phone are you going to go with? I'm going with the iPhone. That's how I compare Wisconsin to Nebraska. Nebraska is a flip phone (laughs with reporters), and Wisconsin is an iPhone.
So, I mean, I'm like, mom, I want to go the Apple store. I don't want to go to the Sprint store. So, who wouldn't want to go with what is best at that moment?"
Clement then went back into the primary conversation of his open session with national media -- being Melvin Gordon's understudy his first two years for the Badgers, and how humbling it was going from being a high school star to getting "shown up" by Gordon.
I followed up by asking him about being a part of the Badgers repeat ground assault in Madison last year. Melvin Gordon rushed for an NCAA record 408 yards, and Clement added 5 rushes for 22 yards as part of the Badgers' 580 total.
How do the Badgers have the Huskers' number, especially in tearing up NU's rush defense?
"It was just sticking to the run. Sticking to the run helps a lot, switching it up with passes here and there, and just not really letting anything phase you, because that's what Coach Anderson preached us a lot. 'Nothing fazes us.' So, we just went out each practice, no matter the circumstances, so that's what made it fun. Being a part of the moment always helped out the game."
Was Clement surprised how easy Wisconsin made crushing Nebraska look in each of those two games, with an average score of 65-28, and 1,119 rushing yards between the two.
"It was kind of surprising. How come nothing is able to be stopped at the moment? But Melvin was just a freak athlete at the time. He still is. Melvin was Melvin at the time we needed him to be."
About an hour before Clement had his media session, Badgers and Huskers fans learned of 4-star running back Jordan Stevenson committing to Nebraska, about a week after Stevenson learned he was academically ineligible to play at Wisconsin, where he signed his letter of intent last February.
Clement had heard the news.
"It's good for him," Clement said of Stevenson. "It sucks that he couldn't come in, and I wish I could've gotten the chance to see what he's all about. I mean, I knew what he was like off the field but, I just wanted to see how he translated on the field. I knew he was a fast guy. Shifty. And, he could've been a playmaker for us and I'm pretty sure he's going to work out in Nebraska, getting into some sort of role, whether it is special teams or just being an outstanding back at Nebraska. Nebraska has a lot of (solid) backs just waiting to unleash."