by RANDY ROSETTA; Advocate sportswriter; , The Advocate

LSU sophomore Stevan Ridley has learned that quickly.

For senior Keiland Williams, the learning curve has been longer and more winding.

This week, those two step into a spotlight created after senior Charles Scott's season, and likely his college career, ended with a broken collarbone.

How much Ridley and Williams contribute remains a mystery until they step on the field and is likely to from week to week.

What doesn't figure to diverge is the motivation both players have as they take the first step to fill Scott's shoes.

"Am I prepared?" Ridley said. "I have a lot of work to do. Ready for the opportunity? I'd say I'm ready. You don't know how ready you are until you're thrown in there.

"If the coaches are ready to throw me out there, I'm ready to go. I'm going to practice hard and try my best to do the best for the team."

The matter of whether the LSU coaches are ready to see what Ridley can do was answered when he took over for Scott against Alabama.

Ridley's first carry was certainly a scrapbook memory: He started to the left side, caromed off Crimson Tide man-mountain Terrence Cody and sliced back to his right and headed straight to the end zone pylon for an 8-yard touchdown run.

That he got the call over the more battle-tested Williams was a surprise to Ridley, whose first carries of the season came the week before in a 42-0 romp past Tulane.

"For them to call my number down there in the red zone was shocking," Ridley said. "You have to come back to reality real fast. You have to go in there and make it happen. They're not just calling your number to go in there and make out the formation and have 11 people on the field. They call your number to make something to happen and I really take that to heart and wanted to go out there and make something happen."

That's exactly what Williams has spent most of his career doing, but he's never quite escaped the shadows.

In 2006 and '07, Williams was the primary backup to Jacob Hester and ran for 914 yards and 11 touchdowns on 146 carries. Last season, Scott emerged as the go-to back among a group that included Williams and Richard Murphy.

While Scott delivered one of the top seasons in program history, Williams got the ball 83 times for 417 yards.

Now with Scott and Murphy recuperating from injuries, Williams would seem to be the next man in line - the good solider who waited his turn.

LSU coach Les Miles mentioned Williams' name first when he talked about filling Scott's void.

But, as is usually the case when Miles talks about Williams, he was ambiguous when asked why the senior from Lafayette hasn't made the impact expected when the Tigers won a high-profile recruiting battle against Southern California and Ole Miss to land him.

Since matching Scott yard for yard in the first four games (actually he led the team with 184 yards after four outings), Williams has seen less playing time.

In the last five games, Williams has carried only eight times for 28 yards.

"I think Keiland is certainly contributing to this team," Miles said. "I can only tell you that we are going to call his number as best we can and as often as we can to give our team every opportunity at victory. We are going to use him just as much as we can."

How much remains a mystery, even to the always-gregarious Williams.

"We'll just kind of see how everything goes throughout the week and we'll see on Saturday how it comes out and how many touches I get," Williams said. "I kind of told myself I wouldn't let anything frustrate me or bother me this season. I'm just kind of rolling with the punches and whatever happens, happens."

Asked directly why he has slipped off the LSU offensive radar, Williams said "I don't know. Your guess is just as good as mine."

What isn't open to confusion is how badly Williams relishes the chance to be the top running back.

"Everybody wants to be that guy to step up," he said.

That's also the case with Ridley, who blew out a knee on the second day or spring drills.

When fall camp began, Ridley was back at work and he has been a prominent player on special teams with 10 tackles.

Until the Tulane game, though, when he pounded away for 73 yards on eight carries and blasted into the end zone on a 10-yard run, Ridley's place in the pecking order was just as unclear as Williams.

His performance against the Green Wave and the touchdown against an Alabama defense that is the SEC's stingiest on the ground are proof he's ready for that part of the job.

But Ridley also knows he has plenty left to learn.

"I've always just run the ball one way all my life and that's hard," Ridley said.

"The physical part of the game will be taken care of. It's more mental and if I can get that mental aspect up to par with the physical aspect, I'll be good and ready to go."

Particularly if Ridley wraps his mind around the non-running duties demanded of LSU running backs - blitz pickup and extra protection for the quarterback.

"Running the ball as a running back is the easy part," Ridley said. "The other stuff, the small stuff, that's what turns out to be big for your football team. You have to protect your quarterback and keep the hits off him. When they're blitzing linebackers and safeties and stuff like that, that's a huge part of it. That's when your technique starts to come in. That's something I still have to work on."

Those are things Williams has mastered. He and Scott were regarded as equals as blockers, while Williams is a better receiver and has carved a niche' as a third-down back.

Will that be enough, though, for a back that SportingNews.com rated as the seventh best running back prospect for the 2010 NFL draft before this season began?

Before he had ever had the chance to shine as a starter, a chance that now might finally have arrived.

"I'm really not going to sit here and get frustrated," Williams said. "Because if I do that, I'm going to find myself passing up an opportunity that comes my way and I don't want to do that."

Louisiana Tech at LSU

WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday.

WHERE: Tiger Stadium.

TV: ESPNU.

RADIO: WDGL-FM, 98.1.

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