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Wisconsin sophomore Jonathan Taylor has won the Doak Walker Award, which is handed out to the nation’s best running back. The winner was announced on Thursday night at the College Football Awards show in Atlanta, GA.
The Doak Walker Award for the nation's premier running back goes to … Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor! pic.twitter.com/1Lia1ktYUx
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 7, 2018
Doak 👏 Walker 👏 Winner 👏@JayT23 wanted to get better.
He became the best in the country.Congrats to Jonathan Taylor on becoming the fourth player in Wisconsin history to win the @DoakWalkerAward#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/2wQa6OPTTy
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) December 7, 2018
Taylor ran for 1,989 yards during the regular season, most in the FBS, with 15 touchdowns, topping the 100-yard mark in 11 of 12 games played. He’s currently fourth on the Badgers’ all-time list for single-season rushing yards, needing 121 more to jump two spots (Ron Dayne in 1996 and ’99) and sit behind Melvin Gordon’s first-place mark of 2,587.
His 321-yard performance in a 47-44 triple-overtime win over Purdue is No. 3 in school history for a single game behind Gordon (408 against Nebraska in 2014) and Dayne (339 in 1996 against Hawai’i).
The Badgers are set to play Miami (FL) in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27 at 5:15 p.m. EST.
Tyler has covered college football on a freelance basis since 2010. In addition to Saturday Football, his work has been featured on ESPN Radio, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, Cox Media Group, Athlon Sports, and more.