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 wide receivers from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:
The wide receiver unit was bolstered by the return of Quintez Cephus this past season. Cephus’ return to the team was big as he was Wisconsin’s most consistent wide receiver despite missing all of the 2018 season as he finished the season with 59 catches for 901 yards and seven touchdowns as all three led the team. In addition, Cephus caught a pass in every single game this season.
Not to mention as the competition took a rise in the month of November and over the Badgers last two games of the season Cephus was able to elevate his level of play.
In Wisconsin’s last six games he was dominant at times in particular over Wisconsin’s last three games in that stretch he caught a combined 14 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns.
Cephus’ ability to stretch the field over the last part of the season helped make sure opposing defenses couldn’t consistently load the box against Wisconsin’s run game.
The trio of Danny Davis (30-250-1), Kendric Pryor (23-278-0), and A.J. Taylor (23-267-2) caught a combined 76 passes for 795 yards and a combined three touchdowns.
With Cephus having such a productive season meant that Davis’ and Taylor’s numbers took a dip compared to what they posted in 2018. Davis led the team in both receptions (40) and receiving touchdowns (five) while Taylor led Wisconsin in receiving yards with 521 in 2018.
Davis was able to form a good connection with Jack Coan over the course of the 2018 season. In addition, with Coan being named the starter it was fair to expect that the chemistry Coan and Davis developed would carry over to this past season.
But Davis did disappear at times as there were four games where he went without a catch including a three game stretch in November. Compare that to his first two years at Wisconsin when he only had a combined three games where he didn’t register a reception.
Pryor was able to finish the season with 460 yards of total offense as he had 278 receiving yards and had 182 yards rushing to go along with two rushing touchdowns. Pryor was Wisconsin’s most effective wide receiver when it came to the Badgers jet sweep as he averaged 12.8 yards per carry. His longest rush of the season came against Michigan State when he registered a 66-yard rushing touchdown.
After Wisconsin’s big four in Cephus, Davis, Taylor, and Pryor Wisconsin also received contributions from Jack Dunn and Adam Krumholz as both played in all 14 games.
Dunn finished the year with five receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown he also had two rushing attempts for seven yards and a rushing touchdown. Krumholz caught two passes for 20 yards.
2020 Wisconsin Wide Receivers
Wisconsin was already set to lose Taylor to graduation but following Wisconsin’s appearance in the Rose Bowl Cephus announced he was entering the NFL Draft and sophomore Aron Cruickshank announced he was entering the transfer portal. With Cephus and Cruickshank departing Wisconsin the wide receiver room will look different than previously expected. The Badgers will still have Davis, Pryor, Dunn, and Krumholz as the four will all be seniors. Wisconsin knows what they have in those four as the Badgers will need either A.J. Abbott, Taj Mustapha, Stephan Bracey, or one of the three incoming wide receivers in the 2020 class to step up.