By By Case's Gillem pays his dues on scout team BY PETER JACKEL Journal Times MADISON Leu Gillem walked onto a chartered flight for Pasadena with the rest of his University of Wisconsin football teammates Christmas Day, feeling very much as though he earned his seat assignment. Just 14 months removed from when he was one of the most electrifying high school players in the state as a running back for Case High School, Gillem won't play a down for the Badgers in the Rose Bowl against UCLA on New Year's Day in California. Nor has he during this entire redshirt season, unless it includes talking about sacrificing his body every weekday afternoon on something called a scout team. He's been assigned a uniform number Gillem wears No. 48 but there's been no such luck as far as his identity is concerned. All is he to Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez and his staff for now is that name between Pat Gill and Rasheed Golden on the Badgers' roster. ``If there were applications in Sunday's paper for Leu's job, there wouldn't be very many people who would want it," Wisconsin running backs coach Brian White said. What a life it is. You're the featured back during the anonymous hours of practice, only you're simulating the running tendencies of someone the Badgers are preparing to defend. At various times this season, Gillem has been Michigan's Anthony Thomas, Penn State's Eric McCoo and, he says, ``that fullback from Indiana," (Chris Gall), among others. The names sort of blend together after a while. He would love to have just been Leu Gillem, one of the fastest high school football players in Wisconsin last year, but that will have to wait. This is the big business of college football and no matter how talented you think you are, you're going to be cut down to size in a hurry playing at this level. ``We were scrimmaging, doing UCLA's offense, and I was running the ball," Gillem said. ``I saw a hole and I ran through it. It was an open hole, but they wanted me to run where the play was at. ``I ran toward the open hole because that's what I was taught to do. The coach told me not to, but I just couldn't do that because that's not what a running back does. It's a burden, like, `I guess you just want me to get hit for the guys.' " That's exactly what is expected of Gillem. And through it all, he can only hope to catch the eye of some coach with an impressive cut or burst at practice one day. He can only hope to try and stand out in a mixing bowl of more than 100 players with the same intentions. Gillem has frequently heard the words, ``Good job," from some coach on the Badgers' staff this season, but someone has to throw him a bone for this thankless job. Someone has to give an anonymous walk-on freshman, buried on a depth chart that includes Ron Dayne and six or seven ohers, some glimmer of hope. Otherwise, what's the point of even sticking around? ``Sometimes you think, `What am I doing out here?' because you have Ron and you have two other guys behind him who the coach really likes and then you've got all these other guys who are competing with you," Gillem said. ``I feel that I'm doing a pretty good job and I'm doing just as good as all the other backs. I'm giving it my all every day, I haven't missed a practice and I'm not nagged with injuries. ``But there are low points like at scrimmages, when the coaches might start another running back ahead of you (on the scout team). Then you think they're not really paying attention to you. All the other coaches are saying, `Good job,' but then the running back coach looks past you. That's a real low point for me." It might have been a different situation for Gillem had he followed through with his original plan to attend North Dakota State, an NCAA Division II program. After rushing for 1,333 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior at Case in 1997, there would have been a strong possibility Gillem would have made an immediate impact at the Fargo, N.D., school. But when a financial aid package Gillem said he was promised didn't materialize, he decided to pursue the far more difficult challenge at Madison. Gillem earned an academic scholarship supplemented by financial aid at Wisconsin, meaning he hasn't had to apply for student loans. He's had to pay in other ways, though. ``It's just a weird transition and something I have to get used to," Gillem said. ``You know, you have to start at the bottom wherever you go. I wasn't getting the ball when I first started out at Case, either. I had to go through a few stages and maybe that's what I have to do here." Gillem made the first installment on his future this fall and White has been impressed. ``The scout team is very important to our football team, particularly with the attitude and effort that Leu gives," White said. ``He's a great kid and practices with tremendous enthusiasm and understands his role. Our defense has been one of the better defenses in the country and I think a lot of that has to do with the preparation they get from our scout squad. Leu has been a very, very important part of that." But there has to be a reward beyond that. Earlier this decade, another Racine athlete, Brent Moss, worked himself through the ranks from a Prop 48 student to Most Valuable Player in the 1994 Rose Bowl. Gillem, who said he never met Moss, has nevertheless been inspired by what Moss made of himself while at Madison. The challenge now is to bide his time, just as Moss had to do during his first few seasons at Madison. White has seen enough of Gillem to predict he will eventually make a more substantial contribution to the Badgers. ``I believe Leu has enough ability if he hangs with our program that he'll make a contribution to our team as a fullback," White said. ``I really believe that. He has plenty of athletic ability, he's a smart kid, he's a willing learner and I think if he allows himself to be developed, he'll play on special teams and he'll work himself into the rotation at fullback. ``I expect him to make a contribution to our team down the road." It might even be at linebacker, a position Gillem doubled at while he played for Case. Considering Dayne announced last week he will return for his senior season, the Badgers will have substantial depth at running back once again in 1999. But an outside linebacker position will be vacated by the graduation of Bob Adamov. Gillem, who was the WIAA Division 1 runner-up in both the 100- and 200-meter runs as a junior, certainly has the speed to play the position and he has supplemented that by dedicating himself to weightlifting this fall. ``I guess the main goal is to play running back here, but I just want to play," Gillem said. ``They're thinking about moving me to linebacker if it doesn't work out because Ron's staying now, so that's another year I would lose. ``At outside linebacker, you can use your speed and a little bit of your strength and I'm pretty strong and I've got the speed. Plus, Bob Adamov, the starter, is graduating and there's only two other guys at the position, so it sounded pretty good. They asked me at the beginning of the year to think about it, so I'm still weighing my options." Whether it's at running back or linebacker, though, Gillem intends to make an impact before he leaves Madison. ``I've got the ambition to get to the top," he said. ``I'll just have to prove myself in spring ball. I've got four more years after this, so I'm just waiting for my chance. ``I came here because I didn't want to sell myself short. I wanted to see how good I am and how far I can go. I figure everybody else had to start at the btom here, so why can't I?"