Three Badgers named to Associated Press All-American teams

The AP announced its All-American teams, and Wisconsin is well-represented with Zack Baun, Tyler Biadasz and Jonathan Taylor all included.

Wisconsin is well-represented on the Associated Press All-American teams that were released on Monday, joining Georgia and Kentucky as the only schools to land multiple players on the first team.

To the surprise of no one, Jonathan Taylor earned a spot as one of the two first-team running backs for the second year in a row. He was the only player to repeat as a first-team selection this season.

It’s safe to say Taylor has not disappointed throughout what most expect to be his final season in Madison. He leads the Big Ten in both rushing yards and touchdowns and ranks second nationally in both categories, and was named the Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year for the second year in a row. He was also just awarded the Doak Walker Award for the second consecutive season at last week’s College Football Awards.

Taylor is a special talent, but the offensive linemen who have blasted running lanes open for him over the last three years have been critical to his success as well and deserve their fair share of the recognition. This is especially true of Tyler Biadasz, who has been one of the nation’s top centers from the moment he seized the starting role as a redshirt freshman in 2017.

Biadasz has turned in his best season yet as a junior, earning consensus first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year and winning the Rimington Trophy as the best center in college football. The Amherst, Wis. native can now add “First Team All-American” to his resume as well.

Taylor and Biadasz have been unsurprisingly fantastic for the Badgers this season, but arguably the biggest storyline of the year for Wisconsin has been the emergence of Zack Baun into one of the nation’s top linebackers and, as of today, a Second Team All-American.

Plenty of Badger fans expected to see some progress from Baun this season, but few anticipated him to turn into a full-fledged star. This, of course, is exactly what he has become: Baun’s team-high 12.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss are both good for No. 2 in the conference and No. 7 in the nation. In addition to earning AP All-American honors, he was a consensus First Team All-Big Ten selection and a finalist for the Butkus Award.

While Taylor and Biadasz were already held in high regard by professional scouts leading into the season, Baun was flying considerably under the radar. That’s no longer the case, as his breakout senior season has likely made him a great deal of money: he is now widely considered a likely mid-round selection (at worst) in this spring’s NFL draft and will have the chance to improve his stock even further at the Senior Bowl in January.