Wisconsin Badgers football alumni Jonathan Taylor and Maema Njongmeta linked up for a picture at an NFL preseason joint training camp practice on Tuesday.
Staged at Cincinnati’s Kettering Health Practice Fields, the practice was the final of Indianapolis’ offseason agenda before the Colts and Bengals square off in their final preseason match on Thursday night.
Taylor, a star running back for the Indianapolis Colts, and Njongmeta, a promising linebacker prospect for the Cincinnati Bengals, came together with Wisconsin’s No. 3 all-time leading tackler Tim Krumrie during Tuesday’s action.
Krumrie played four seasons at Wisconsin before transitioning to a successful 12-year NFL career with the Bengals from 1983-94. Krumrie was a 1999 inductee into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame and served as a defensive line coach for the Bengals, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs from 1995-2009.
Badger Boys 🦡 🏈 @BadgerFootball @NFLBadgers @Bengals @JayT23 pic.twitter.com/fAixeidSg8
— Tim Krumrie (@timkrumrie) August 20, 2024
While Njongmeta’s career doesn’t quite align with Taylor’s Wisconsin timeline, both represented the Badgers in 2019. Njongmeta redshirted that year while Taylor, who rushed for over 1,800 yards in 2021, pocketed his second-consecutive Doak Walker Award, registered another 2,000-yard season and led the nation with 26 total touchdowns.
Despite encountering a few injury setbacks, Taylor enters this season as one of the NFL’s premier all-purpose running backs. Njongmeta, on the other hand, is fighting for a spot on Cincinnati’s final 53-man roster for the 2024 slate.
Luckily for him, his 17 tackles, two passes deflections, one tackle for loss and one special teams tackle in two preseason games with the Bengals has driven his defensive stock up considerably.
Regardless of what transpires with the roster, both players appear to connect over their collegiate bonds.
Once a Badger, always a Badger.