HERO Sports is counting down the days until the kickoff of the 2018 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 25, by featuring the best player in the FBS at each jersey number, from 99-1. Each day, from May 18 through Aug. 24, we'll publish one article showcasing the best player whose jersey number matches the number of days remaining.
No. 23 Jonathan Taylor
Wisconsin – RB
Jonathan Taylor failed to rush for at least 100 yards in four of Wisconsin's 14 games last season. Each time he didn't hit the century mark, he exploded the following week, averaging 196 rushing yards and 1.5 rushing touchdowns in those four games, which included three games with at least 180 yards and two with at least 220 yards.
While no one was expecting a 1,900-yard true freshman season from Taylor, a former three-star recruit who flipped from Rutgers to Wisconsin during his senior season at Salem (N.J.) High School, it was clear that he found a perfect fit in the Wisconsin offense, said 247Sports national recruiting analyst Brian Dohn.
"He was a perfect fit for the Wisconsin offense for what they want to do running downhill and between the tackles," Dohn told HERO Sports last year. "He was so big and strong that you weren't going to tackle him high because his legs were so strong [or] low because he was so thick in the lower body was also going to be an issue."
And Taylor is now even bigger and stronger. After playing last season at 5-foot-11, 214 pounds, he's now 221 pounds and will run behind the best offensive line in the country.
“We always talk about how physically, you better be ready. It’s the Big Ten, you’re going to get hit,” Wisconsin running backs coach John Settle said this week. “You need to do all you need to do in the offseason to prepare your body to take that pounding.
Taylor enters the season as the FBS' leading returning rusher in yards after contact (1,354) and second in rushing yards (1,972). He's a Heisman Trophy candidate and the best No. 23 in college football.
He is the seventh Wisconsin player to appear on the countdown, by far the most of any program.
NEXT: Teams Didn't Miss Boat on Taylor; He Just Found Perfect Fit
