The Wildcats welcomed sophomore running back Brandon Roberson back to full-speed practice this week, but they lost freshman Corey Wootton on Tuesday.

Roberson had been limited after suffering an ankle injury in the first game of the season, and has five carries and 13 yards. After resting most of last week, he was back to full practice Tuesday.

“I thought he looked good,” Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. “We kind of run a bunch of backs in there, we don’t wear any of them down. The times I saw him, he looked real good. He looks ready to go to me.”

Roberson was all-but named the starting running back after an exceptional spring campaign, but lost the job to freshman Tyrell Sutton in the second game of the season after Roberson was limited by his injury.

Walker said Roberson will play this weekend, but he is not sure how much.

“I expect to play quite a bit,” Roberson said. “It just depends on how much the coaches want to play me.”

But he said he is not sure if or when he will find his way back to the starting lineup.

“Right now I’m not even thinking about that,” Roberson said. “I’m just trying to come back and help the team, then take it from there.”

The news for Wootton was not as good.

He wore an orange jersey in Tuesday and Wednesday practices, meaning he could not participate. The NU athletic training staff classified the injury as a neck strain, and said Wooton is doubtful for Saturday’s game against No. 14 Wisconsin.

“I think he’s ruled out,” Walker said. “He was good two weeks ago, and I don’t know what changed, but all the sudden he was ruled out.”

Friendly Fire

A few weeks ago, coach Randy Walker was worried about the lack of intensity in practice. But Tuesday his team took care of that problem.

Multiple skirmishes broke out during the scrimmage portion of the practice, when the offense and defense face each other and do everything they would in a game but tackle.

“As I told them, we just need to channel it the right way,” Walker said. “I’m big on passion and everything, passion’s a real big part of this game, but you have to make sure you channel it the right way.”

Even though there was no tackling involved in the drills, some players seemed to take offense to how plays ended, or what went on before the play was called dead.

“It’s good for the team,” Roberson said. “I know fighting sounds kind of bad, but I think it was good for this week. We’re going to have a physical game, and I like the more physical atmosphere we’ve had during this week.

Suttometer, jr.

Freshman running back Tyrell Sutton is closing in on another NU record. He is 98 yards shy of Greg Boykin’s record of 625 yards set in 1972.

“I didn’t even know that,” Sutton said. “I guess it just comes from a desire to want to win, the desire to want to get the seinor members of the team a memorable season.”

He is fourth in the nation, averaging 132 yards per game, and third in the country in scoring average, scoring 12 points per game.

In his four games, Sutton has amassed more yards than nine of the top ten rushers in NU history gained their freshman season – Boykin is the exception.

“I don’t keep up with personal stats,” Sutton said. “I just want to make any contribution I can any way possible.”

Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].