How did Wisconsin’s running backs do over the 2019 season? Jonathan Taylor RB, Nakia Watson RB, Garrett Groshek RB.
Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.
In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s running back from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
It was the Jonathan Taylor show in 2019. Taylor for the second consecutive year rushed for over 2,000 yards as he finished with 2,003 yards on 320 carries and had 21 rushing touchdowns.
Taylor who entered the 2019 season with very few questions surrounding him did have one main question though and that was if he could be a consistent contributor in the receiving game?
Considering entering the season he only caught a combined 16 passes for 155 yards. Taylor as a junior improved on his pass receiving skills finishing the season with 26 receptions for 252 yards and five touchdowns.
Taylor caught a pass in every game this season with the exception in Wisconsin’s win against Purdue. In addition, Taylor’s five receiving touchdowns were the second most on the team behind wide receiver Quintez Cephus.
Taylor posted 2,255 yards of total offense as he averaged an impressive 6.5 yards per play. The numbers Taylor posted this past season allowed him to not only be a finalist for the Doak Walker Award but also the winner of the award for a second consecutive season.
Taylor became the first Badger to win the Doak Walker Award in consecutive seasons and the third player to win the award in consecutive years as he joins Texas’ Ricky Williams (1998, 1999) and Arkansas’ Darren McFadden (2005, 2006).
Even when teams loaded the box in order to try and slow down Taylor it was no guarantee they would have success. Considering Taylor only lost an average of 2.9 yards per game. Taylor, as he has throughout his career, showed excellent vision and patience allowing him to consistently pick up positive yards.
The next highest rusher after Taylor was redshirt freshman Nakia Watson. Watson finished his season with 74 rushing attempts for 331 yards and two touchdowns. However, Watson over Wisconsin’s last two games against Ohio State and Oregon didn’t register a carry.
Although Wisconsin’s run game was excellent in 2019 the Badgers didn’t receive the same kind of production from their backup running back like they did in 2018 in Taiwan Deal (82-545-6).
Redshirt junior Garrett Groshek split reps as Wisconsin’s primary backup and also served as the Badgers third down running back too. Groshek finished the season with more receiving yards (289) than he did rushing yards (194). Groshek finished with two rushing touchdowns as he averaged 4.6 yards per carry.
Outside of getting the football in the hands of the wide receiver’s on end arounds the Badgers used three primary backs in Taylor, Watson, and Groshek throughout the season as redshirt senior Bradrick shaw received some playing time in mop up duty as well. Shaw finished the season with 116 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
2020 Wisconsin Running Backs
With Taylor declaring for the NFL the Badgers will have questions surrounding the position entering the 2020 season. Primarily who is the starter at the position? One could project Watson as the starter but he’ll have to become more consistent in order to become the full-time starter. The Wisconsin coaching staff clearly has trust in Groshek but he would serve better in Wisconsin’s offense as the third down back. One also can’t cut out Julius Davis who redshirted this past season and the Badgers also have consensus 2020 four star running back Jalen Berger coming to Wisconsin. The Badgers certainly have talent at the position but it will come down to if somebody is able to separate themselves from the rest of the running backs on Wisconsin’s roster over spring and fall camp.
