Jonathan Taylor


Jonathan Taylor is an American professional football running back for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League.
Taylor played high school football at Salem High School, where he set a New Jersey state rushing yards record. He played three seasons of college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, finishing his college career as the sixth all-time rusher in the NCAA and became the first player in FBS history to rush for more than 6,000 yards in any three-year span. Taylor finished in the top ten of Heisman Trophy voting three times, was named a unanimous first-team All-American, and was a recipient of the Doak Walker Award in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He was selected by the Colts in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. In 2021, Taylor led the NFL in both rushing yards and touchdowns, becoming a unanimous All-Pro and Pro Bowler in the same season.

Early life

Taylor was born in Salem, New Jersey, to Elizabeth Taylor and Jonathan James. His father played basketball for San Francisco State from 1982 to 1986. Taylor attended Salem High School, where he amassed 4,642 rushing yards and 51 touchdowns. As a senior, he set the New Jersey record with 2,815 rushing yards, which had been held by former Wisconsin Badgers running back Corey Clement. In his senior season, Taylor averaged 234.6 yards a game, rushing for 35 touchdowns and scoring 37 total, and was honored with the Jim Henry Award as the high school area player of the year for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Taylor was also an accomplished performer in track and field, and he won two state titles in the 100-meter dash, his best time being 10.49 seconds.
247Sports rated Taylor as a three-star prospect and the 24th-highest ranked running back in the class of 2017. He committed to play college football at Rutgers University, but later changed it to the University of Wisconsin–Madison on November 1, 2016.

College career

Freshman season

After fall camp in 2017, Taylor opened his freshman year at Wisconsin as one of the team's starting running backs alongside Bradrick Shaw and Chris James. In his first collegiate game against Utah State, he had nine carries for 87 yards and a touchdown in the 59–10 win at home. In his second game against Florida Atlantic, Taylor ran the ball 26 times for 223 yards and a season-high three rushing touchdowns in the 31–14 win. After his fifth game of the season, in which he ran 25 carries for a season-high 249 yards in a 38–17 road victory against Nebraska, he entered the Heisman Trophy conversation and was routinely listed among the top-five Heisman candidates. The following game against Purdue, Taylor had 30 carries for 219 rushing yards and a touchdown in the 17–9 victory.
On October 21, 2017, in his seventh collegiate game, Taylor reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark, tying the FBS freshman record for fewest games to reach 1,000 yards; the previous backs to accomplish this feat were Florida's Emmitt Smith, San Diego State's Marshall Faulk, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, North Texas' Jamario Thomas and Wisconsin's P. J. Hill. Taylor had 22 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown in the 38–13 home victory over Maryland.
Two weeks later, Taylor rushed for 183 yards on 29 carries with a touchdown in Wisconsin's 45–17 win over Indiana on the road, winning his fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award. On October 30, Taylor was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award. On November 17, he was named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award given to the top running back in the country. Just three days later, he was named one of three Doak Walker Award finalists, along with Penn State's Saquon Barkley and Stanford's Bryce Love. Following the final game of the season against Wisconsin's rival Minnesota, Taylor won his eighth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award. He set a new Big Ten record as he surpassed Ohio State quarterback J. T. Barrett's record of seven Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards set in 2014. On November 27, Taylor was listed as a consensus first-team All-Big Ten pick by the Big Ten coaches and media, and was named the conference's freshman of the year. He finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Taylor finished his freshman season with 1,977 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, finishing second all-time in rushing yards among FBS freshmen, behind fellow Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne. Since the NCAA does not include bowl-game stats for the period Dayne played, Taylor is the official record holder for freshman rushing yards. The latter led the Big Ten in rushing yards, while finishing third in the FBS in rushing yards. Taylor was second in the Big Ten in rushing touchdowns. He helped the Badgers to a school-record-setting 13 wins, an appearance in the 2017 Big Ten Championship Game, and a 34–24 victory over Miami in the Orange Bowl.

Sophomore season

Taylor entered the 2018 season as a consensus preseason All-American and was featured on watch lists for the Maxwell Award, the Doak Walker Award, and the Walter Camp Award. Taylor's return, as well as those of many other key members of the 2017 Orange Bowl-winning Wisconsin team, led the Badgers to become ranked fourth in the preseason AP Poll, tied for the highest start in school history. He was the seventh-ranked college football player by ESPN during the preseason.
Taylor started off the season with 18 carries for 145 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a 34–3 victory over Western Kentucky. In the second game, Taylor set a career-high with 253 rushing yards, to go along with three touchdowns, in a 45–14 win over New Mexico. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Taylor again eclipsed the 200-yard mark when he put up 221 yards and three touchdowns on 24 attempts against Nebraska on October 6. However, the Badgers faltered, losing five regular-season games and soon falling out of the rankings. On November 3, Taylor had 27 carries for 208 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a 31–17 victory over Rutgers. In a triple-overtime win over Purdue on November 17, he put up a career-high 321 yards and three touchdowns. The game earned him his fourth career Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors. Wisconsin, 7–5 in the regular season, earned an invitation to the Pinstripe Bowl against Miami in a rematch of the previous year's Orange Bowl. Taylor put up 205 rushing yards and a touchdown in the game, helping the Badgers to a 35–3 win and earning game MVP honors.
During the 2018 season, Taylor led the FBS in rushing yards and attempts, finishing in the top ten for yards per attempt and rushing touchdowns. He finished ninth in Heisman Trophy voting. He received the Doak Walker Award, given annually to college football's top running back. Taylor was named a unanimous first-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten Running Back of the Year. He became the third Badger running back to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark, following Ron Dayne and Melvin Gordon.

Junior season

Taylor was a unanimous preseason All-American heading into the 2019 season and was widely considered a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate. In Wisconsin's opening game against South Florida, Taylor rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns and added two touchdown receptions through the air. He became the first Big Ten player to record two rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same game since 2010, and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. In a Week 4 victory over No. 11 Michigan, Taylor rushed for 203 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first Wisconsin player to rush for 200 yards against the Wolverines. He earned his sixth career Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors for the performance. On November 9, against Iowa, he had 31 carries for 250 rushing yards in the 24–22 victory. In a November 16 game against Nebraska, Taylor rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns, and in the process broke Herschel Walker’s record for the most rushing yards through a junior season. He was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week, his fourth Player of the Week honors of the season. The next week, against Purdue, Taylor accomplished his FBS-record-setting 12th career 200-yard game.
Taylor and the Badgers represented the West Division in the Big Ten Championship Game, but fell to Ohio State 34–21. The team was invited to the Rose Bowl to play Pac-12 champion Oregon, losing 28–27, to end the year at 10–4. Taylor finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019. During the Rose Bowl, Taylor eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark for the season and became the second FBS player with two 2,000-yard seasons. Taylor finished the season tied atop the Big Ten and tied for third nationally with Ohio State's J. K. Dobbins in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns; each had 2,003 yards and 21 touchdowns. For the second consecutive year, Taylor was named a unanimous first-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, and the Big Ten Running Back of the Year. He was again the recipient of the Doak Walker Award, becoming the first player to win the award twice since Darren McFadden did so in 2006 and 2007.
On January 3, 2020, it was announced that Taylor would skip his senior season, and enlist in the that years draft. Taylor ended his college career at fourth on the all-time FBS rushing-yards list, sixth all time when bowl games are included, with 6,174 yards.

College statistics

College accolades

Awards and honors

;National
;Big Ten Conference