Bringing running back: Taylor’s numbers off the charts
November 24, 2018 | Football, Andy Baggot
Sophomore has more rushing yards than half of the teams in the country
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — As you might expect, mail call is an eventful moment for Wisconsin sophomore tailback Jonathan Taylor.
Once a week, Taylor will check his personal bin along an east wall inside the locker room at Camp Randall Stadium. He'll reach into slot No. 23 — his jersey number — and find a fist-thick stack of letters. He will smile and eventually go about the business of being a good pen pal.
Most of the correspondence is from youngsters seeking Taylor's autograph. A lot of the postmarks are from Wisconsin, but he's also noticed them from Florida, Indiana and New Jersey. He's happy to oblige, utilizing the return envelope and prepaid postage.
"I like reading the letters from kids," Taylor said. "It's really nice that they take the time to send me a letter."
Some include hand-drawn pictures. Some include wisdom.
"One kid actually told me not to worry about what other people say," Taylor said. "He said, 'You're doing the best you can out there. I can tell. Just keep it up.'
"I thought it was interesting how a kid knew that outside noise doesn't matter. All that really matters is what you're doing."
"𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵." #JT23 // #OnWisconsin
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 19, 2018
The volume of mail has accelerated throughout Taylor's time with the Badgers and there's no reason to think it will abate any time soon. That's how big Taylor is getting.
Tracking all his stats and projections can be a dizzying exercise. That's one of the paybacks for trying to bring context to one of the best players in college football.
Of course, there's the benefit of seeing how Taylor measures up to his peers and where he ranks among his predecessors.
It's also an opportunity to appreciate a rare, envelope-pushing talent who's putting Heisman Trophy and Doak Walker Award voting blocs on notice.
Taylor took his considerable game to another level in helping Wisconsin to an improbable 47-44 triple-overtime victory over Purdue in a Big Ten Conference duel in West Lafayette, Indiana.
He carried 33 times for a career-best 321 yards and three touchdowns, including an 80-yard bolt and the decisive score in the third OT, which led to his fourth citation as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
The third-highest single-game total by a Wisconsin tailback — behind the 408 by Melvin Gordon vs. Nebraska in 2014 and the 339 by Ron Dayne vs. Hawaii in 1996 — allowed Taylor to embrace another career milestone.
A year after setting the FBS single-season record for freshmen with 1,977 rushing yards, Taylor eclipsed the FBS standard, previously set by Dayne, for most combined yards as a freshman and sophomore with 3,846.
Taylor, Dayne (3,566 in 1996 and '97) and Herschel Walker of Georgia (3,507 in 1980 and '81) are the only FBS ball-carriers to exceed 3,500 rushing yards their first two college seasons.
That's a pretty significant achievement seeing how Dayne and Walker won the Heisman in 1999 and '82, respectively.
𝙃𝙚'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙘𝙠. The nation's leading rusher is once again a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. @JayT23 😎 #JT23 // #OnWisconsin
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 19, 2018
Taylor currently leads the FBS in rushing yards (1,869) and per-game average (169.9) through 11 outings. He has a comfortable edge in both categories although it's the average that defines the national leader.
With two games remaining, Taylor is on pace to finish the season with 2,209 rushing yards, which would put him in position to be the first sophomore in FBS history to run for at least 2,200 yards.
Only six other backs, all upperclassmen, have surpassed the 2,200-yard plateau. Three wound up as Heisman winners — Derrick Henry of Alabama in 2015, Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State in 1988 and Marcus Allen of USC in 1981 — while a fourth — Gordon in 2014 — won the Doak Walker Award as the top running back in the nation and finished second in the Heisman voting as the best all-around player in major college football.
Taylor is on pace to follow up a 1,500-yard season with a 2,000-yard effort. He would be the first sophomore in FBS history to make that happen.
Taylor is averaging 153.8 yards per outing for his 25-game career. If you expand that over four full years — projecting 13-game seasons — he would obliterate the current FBS record by 1,400 yards.
Heading into the Big Ten regular-season finale with Minnesota and the bowl game, Taylor has more rushing yards than exactly half of the 130 FBS teams.
That list includes San Diego State and Stanford, which have each had different 2,000-yard rushers in the last four seasons, as well as Indiana and Texas, which have each had one 2,000-yard rusher since 2014.
New Mexico, Auburn and Nevada, which led the nation in rushing offense in 2016, '13 and '09, respectively, also have fewer rushing yards than Taylor.
Half of the 14 Big Ten teams have fewer combined rushing yards than Taylor. That includes Northwestern and Michigan State, which featured the Big Ten's leading rusher in 2016 and '12, respectively.
At the moment, Taylor currently ranks eighth in Wisconsin history with 3,846 career rushing yards, but he's on pace to finish the season with 4,186, which would put him in the top five.
Dayne set the career record with 7,125 from 1996 to '99. Taylor is on a four-year pace to finish with 7,530.
Taylor now has 11 outings with at least 150 yards rushing, so he's halfway to Dayne's program mark of 22.
Taylor has 10 games of at least 100 rushing yards this season, so he's got a shot at tying Gordon's one-year school standard of 12.
Taylor now has four touchdown runs covering 70 yards or more in his career. That's as many as Gordon (three) and Dayne (one) combined.
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— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 19, 2018
Jake Welsch, a Wisconsin student manager from Plymouth, Wisconsin, delivers the mail to the players. He collects it in the coaches' offices on the eighth floor "once there's a big enough pile" and carefully distributes each piece after double-checking the name and slot number.
"You can tell the fan mail by the envelopes and the return addresses," Welsch said. "I think the players really appreciate it."
For this particular mail call, Welsch came across letters and manila envelopes for offensive linemen Beau Benzschawel, Tyler Biadasz, Michael Deiter and Jon Dietzen; kicker Rafael Gaglianone; nose tackle Bryson Williams; and inside linebackers Ryan Connelly and T.J. Edwards.
The biggest chunks were earmarked for quarterback Alex Hornibrook and, of course, Taylor, who said the experience emphasizes his status as a role model.
"Reading their comments makes you refocus and lets you know that this is all bigger than yourself," he said. "There's a lot of kids out there watching you, looking up to you."
