Jonathan Taylor was dominant in his time at Wisconsin and was arguably the best running back in college football. Taylor was ranked among the top running backs in nearly every stat category by Pro Football Focus, but a statistic that was surprising to see was that he led all Power-5 running backs in yards per carry during the fourth quarter last season.
Taylor averaged 7 YPC during the fourth quarter last year and was followed by Chuba Hubbard with 6.8 YPC, Alex Barnes with 5.9 YPC, JK Dobbins with 5.5 YPC, and Cam Akers with 5.3 YPC.
4th quarter yards per carry among Power-5 RBs since 2017:
1. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin – 7.0
2. Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma St. – 6.8
3. Alex Barnes, Kansas St. – 5.9
4. JK Dobbins, Ohio St. – 5.5
5. Cam Akers, FSU – 5.3 pic.twitter.com/u6Tb8ulkcP— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 18, 2020
This excellent stat is a testament to Wisconsin’s ability to wear out teams with their ground and pound style offense throughout the game, which allowed Taylor to break off big gains in the fourth quarter. Jonathan Taylor’s physicality and ability to make defenders miss will be a big asset for the Indianapolis Colts this season, along with his ability to grind down defenses. I expect big things from Taylor this year, especially since he no longer has the absurd workload that he did at Wisconsin.