BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
***Be sure to check out this week's Dream Season game, Wisconsin vs. Michigan from Sept. 21, 2019, on Saturday, Oct. 3 starting at 10 a.m. CT on BTN's YouTube channel.***
MADISON, Wis. — Among his Wisconsin keepsakes — the three game-worn No. 23 jerseys from the Orange Bowl, the Pinstripe Bowl and the Rose Bowl — tailback Jonathan Taylor has another special memento from his illustrious college playing days. He has a football.
Not just any football, mind you, but the one that he clutched in his right arm while scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 17-yard run in the third overtime at Purdue in 2018. Taylor rushed 33 times for a career-high 321 yards and three scores in the three hour and 50-minute marathon.
Reflecting on his milestones and achievements in a Badger uniform — the two-time Doak Walker Award winner accounted for 6,174 yards on 926 carries — Taylor does regret that he didn't keep the football from the first time that he got into the end zone, the first of his 50 career rushing touchdowns.
"The one thing that I didn't think about was keeping the ball from my first touchdown in college and I still don't know why I didn't think about that," lamented Taylor, who made his Wisconsin debut as a true freshman in the 2017 opener against Utah State at Camp Randall Stadium.
At 7:50 of the third quarter, Taylor scored on a 13-yard run.
Coming off the bench, the only game he didn't start at Wisconsin (Bradrick Shaw was the starting tailback that night against Utah State), Taylor ended up with nine carries for 87 yards, one of just nine times in three seasons that he was held under 100 yards.
Now consider the symmetry: Taylor also came off the bench in his first National Football League game with the Indianapolis Colts — who selected him in the second round of the 2020 draft — before moving into the starting lineup in his second game after a season-ending injury to starter Marlon Mack.
This time around, he was bound and determined to keep the football from his first NFL touchdown, a 5-yard run at 1:29 of the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 20 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. He finished with 26 rushes for 101 yards in the Colts' 28-11 win.
"Nyheim Hines told me that on his first (NFL) touchdown, he spiked the ball and forgot to keep it," Taylor said of Hines, a third-year Colts tailback out of NC State. "So, I held the ball in my hands and gave it to the equipment staff and they gave it back to me after the game."
Reconstructing the score, he said, "The week before (against Jacksonville), I got a screen pass and I got tackled at the 1. The only thing I was thinking was, 'I'm not going to let that happen again. I have to get into the end zone, whatever I need to do, even if I have to drive through two or three guys."
Lowering his shoulder, Taylor moved the pile, a characteristic of many of his UW runs. And if that first touchdown with the Colts had a certain familiarity to it, so did his production in reaching 100 yards for the game; something that he accomplished in 32 of 41 outings at Wisconsin.
"They always talk about how it's a huge deal to run for 100 yards in the NFL," said Taylor. "I'm looking to put my best foot forward to have some more 100-yard games."
On Sunday, Indianapolis crushed the New York Jets, 36-7, and Taylor was the Colts' leading rusher with 13 carries for 59 yards and a one-yard touchdown. Jordan Wilkins (9 for 39) and Himes (7 for 21) rounded out the rotation in the absence of Mack, who ruptured his Achilles in the opener.
Last season, Mack was Indy's workhorse with 247 rushes for 1,091 yards.
"When I first got drafted," Taylor recounted, "Marlon contacted me and said, 'Hey, if you need anything just call me, text me, shoot me a picture of whatever you're looking at.' It was tough when he went down (with the injury)."
Mack had words of encouragement for Taylor before making his first start against the Vikings.
"Go out there and just be yourself," Mack told him. "Do what got you here."
And then he reminded Taylor, "You're here for a reason and you need to trust that."
The principle reason that Taylor is here — Indianapolis — is a Badger alum, Chris Ballard, 51, the general manager of the Colts. Ballard was recruited to the UW by Don Morton and went through the early stages of transition with Barry Alvarez. Knee injuries derailed his dream of playing college ball.
Relegated to the sidelines, Ballard got a feel for the coaching profession as a senior grad assistant on Alvarez's staff, a development that would shape his future upon graduation. Moreover, Taylor noted of their connection, "I was the first Wisconsin guy that he has taken (in the draft)."
"The offensive line here is physical and it felt like déjà vu. When I got drafted, the first thing that I thought was, 'You're going to Indianapolis. These guys love to run the football. You just came from the University of Wisconsin where they love to run the football.' That just pumped me up."
Since the draft, Taylor has still stayed in touch with UW running backs coach John Settle.
"I just talked to him the other day," he said, "and I told him how excited I was for his running back group because now they're able to get unleashed with the Big Ten finally back to playing. Now I'll be able to watch those guys. I was sick at first when they weren't going to be able to play."
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Like everyone else, Taylor has been forced to adapt during the Age of COVID-19.
"The way we do things here is almost similar to the process that we had at Wisconsin so there has not been a bunch of adjusting that I've had to do," he said. "The biggest thing is with everything going on in the world, as far as COVID, that has been more of an adjustment than the football process.
After Taylor took over for Mack as the starter, he got an endorsement from 38-year-old Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, who threw his 400th career touchdown pass and topped 60,000 passing yards in Sunday's victory over the Jets. Rivers signed a free agent contract with Indy in March.
"I think like every position," Rivers said, "the more and more experience you have and the more and more you play, the more you improve and the more confidence you get as you move forward. He's had a great training camp. We obviously know the career he had in college … he's prepared."
All of Taylor's preparation has been geared to living out this moment in the NFL.
"That's what you live for," Taylor said. "When you're watching as a kid, you're wondering, 'How do they make those plays?' And now that you're in that position, you realize it really comes down to the week of practice that you had.
"If you go hard in practice, if you make practice harder than the games, you'll be just fine when those opportunities to arise."
During Taylor's final season with the Badgers he rushed for over 200 yards four times, including 203 yards in a 35-15 rout of Michigan in the 2019 Big Ten opener at Camp Randall. Taylor had a few meaningful things to share with his teammates the night before the game.
"We went to the Big House the previous year and they kicked our butts pretty good," Taylor said of a 38-13 loss in Ann Arbor. "One of the biggest things that we talked about is 'We've got to return the favor.' I truly just had to remind the guys that last year they showed no mercy. Why would they?
"Everyone seemed locked in and ready to go."
Especially Taylor on a 72-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
"We talked about how their safeties like to rotate when we bring motion over," Taylor explained of the strategy behind the play call. "That was a big emphasis going into the game: lots of motion to try and move the defense and get those guys out of position.
"I told Coach (Paul) Chryst, 'That one might hit for a long one.'"
Sure enough, the Badgers brought Kendric Pryor, in motion from left to right across the formation and Michigan defensive back Lavert Hill followed Pryor taking himself out of the play. Right guard Josh Seltzner and right tackle Logan Bruss pulled and sealed the edge of the defense.
"The play is supposed to hit inside and kind of off the tackle," Taylor said. "But the linebacker played it wrong. He tried to spill it which left no one outside in that lane. I was able to jump-cut outside and I was off to the races. I came up to Coach Chryst and said, 'I told you it was going for a long one.'"
He had many such "long ones" for the Badgers. And many fond memories of the fan base.
"They love their teams through thick or thin," he said. "Wisconsin fans are second to none."
Now the 21-year-old Taylor is making himself at home at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"Going into the home opener even though I was fortunate enough to play in Lucas Oil twice," he recalled of the UW's two appearances in the Big Ten championship game in Indy, "it just hit me because you look down and you're in a different colored jersey (with a different number, No. 28).
NFL and College Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk once wore No. 28 with the Colts.
"You're like, 'I'm in my first home game in Lucas Oil … it hits you in waves. I'm sure there will be quite a few more waves to come throughout the season where you'll sit back and realize, 'You have an opportunity to live out your dreams.'"
The thought of it all washed over him and he couldn't help but feel like he had arrived.
