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Jonathan Taylor is a monster.
The Wisconsin tailback has the makings of someone who could rewrite the record books, which is saying something considering the footsteps of the great Badger backs whose footsteps is following. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s in line for another huge season playing behind what I believe is the best offensive line in America. I mean, he’s already leading the nation in rushing after a career-high 253 yards.
There’s a but coming. Wait for it.
Taylor showed last year that he’s more than capable of handling a heavy workload with 299 carries in 14 games. He’s actually bigger than he looks on T.V., which I think catches people off-guard when they first see him.
Here’s the but.
But while I don’t question Taylor being a durable back, I can’t help but think it’s concerning that through 2 games, he has 51 carries.
Let me provide some context for that. Those 2 games were against the likes of Western Kentucky and New Mexico. Against the Lobos this past Saturday, Taylor got 33 carries in a 45-14 Wisconsin victory. The Badgers, in case you forgot, were a preseason top-5 team.
So why have the Badgers needed to use Taylor so much in the early going? And is that a troubling sign moving forward?
Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst was asked about Taylor’s workload, specifically the 33 carries he had on Saturday. He didn’t have a problem with it:
Jonathan Taylor ran it a career-high 33 times vs. New Mexico.
A reporter asked Paul Chryst today if the workload was too heavy.
Chryst's answer: pic.twitter.com/QZG5eUSLHi
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 10, 2018
“No I don’t,” Chryst said. “We don’t have a pitch count or a carry count. I thought every time he got it, it was meaningful.”
That’s a short answer, but there’s a lot to dissect there. Let’s start with the belief that Wisconsin doesn’t have a pitch count or a carry count for Taylor.
My question is simple. Why not?
Why wouldn’t you want to try and limit the amount of times that your best player — a Heisman Trophy front-runner — gets hit? Wisconsin backs’ NFL careers are great reminders of why running backs only have a certain amount of hits they can take before they go downhill.
Not that the Badgers are thinking about Taylor’s NFL career yet, but it is a long season. And oh, by the way, Taylor will be in a Wisconsin uniform at least through the 2019 season.
If you’re gonna take a cross-country road trip, you might not want to do burnouts in the parking lot before you even get on the highway.
Just sayin’.
There’s the other part of what Chryst said and this is maybe the more important long-term question. Why are all 33 of Taylor’s carries against Western Kentucky “meaningful?” The Badgers shouldn’t need Taylor to be their lone source of offense to beat a Group of 5 team at home.
I get that Chryst doesn’t want to expose Alex Hornibrook and the receiving corps were thin without Quintez Cephus and Danny Davis. I also get that Bradrick Shaw’s absence limits Wisconsin’s backfield depth, but really? Wisconsin can’t dig itself out of slow starts unless Taylor touches the ball 33 times?
If the Badger coaching staff really believes that, that’s a major issue for a team with Playoff aspirations.
I went back and looked at the game flow because I was curious as to how “meaningful” it was to give Taylor that kind of work against New Mexico. He essentially stayed in the game until he gave Wisconsin a 24-point lead with 6:36 to play. To that point, he received 33 of the 49 backfield carries.
Thanks to that last Taylor-less drive, here was the breakdown of production from Wisconsin running backs sans Taylor:
- Taiwan Deal — 9 carries, 57 yards (6.3 YPC)
- Alec Ingold — 4 carries, 47 yards (11.8 YPC)
- Chris James — 6 carries, 29 yards (4.8 YPC)
- Garrett Groshek — 3 carries, 21 yards (7 YPC)
- Aron Cruickshank — 1 carry, 11 yards (11 YPC)
- Mason Stokke — 2 carries, 6 yards (3 YPC)
With the exception of Stokke, a converted linebacker, every non-Taylor Wisconsin ball-carrier racked up at least 5 yards per carry. In fact, they combined for 25 carries for 171 yards. That’s an average of 6.8 yards per carry, which was slightly worse than the 7.7 yards per carry that Taylor had on Saturday.
You don’t have to be a math major to see that Wisconsin was still plenty effective in the ground game without Taylor. It should be. I mean, we’re talking about arguably the best offensive line in America. The Badgers should be able to line up anyone in that backfield and pick up yards against a Group of 5 defense at home.
That’s not my way of diminishing Taylor’s efforts. He’s a Heisman Trophy candidate for a reason. Perhaps that’s at the root of Wisconsin feeding him the rock so frequently in favorable matchups.
But Taylor is also a human being who gets bumps and bruises…like anyone who gets 33 carries in a game.
Before speaking to the media on Saturday, Taylor admittedly needed some extra time to rest and regroup following the high-volume performance. He said that taking care of his body after a game is “most important.”
The Badgers ought to do a better job of taking care of Taylor’s body during a game because they’re playing with fire if they don’t.
That’d be an awful way to get burned.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.