UW seeks backup to ease Taylor’s workload
MADISON – This much Wisconsin running backs coach John Settle knows:
If junior tailback Jonathan Taylor is healthy, the Badgers will have arguably the best runner in the nation in their backfield.
Taylor has rushed for 4,171 yards, the FBS record for the most yards by a back through his sophomore season.
What Settle doesn't know as UW prepares to open camp on Thursday:
Which reserves will be able to complement Taylor or allow him to rest when needed?
“That is where fall camp will help you answer it with some factual knowledge,” head coach Paul Chryst said.
Taylor last season had 307 of the 477 carries by UW's tailbacks, 64.4%. He rushed for 2,194 of the 3,272 yards gained by the tailbacks, 67.1%.
With Taiwan Deal (82 carries, 545 yards, six TDs) gone, the most experienced backup is redshirt junior Garrett Groshek.
The former walk-on has developed into a third-down specialist because of ability to pick up blitzes and catch passes. He also averaged 6.5 yards per carry last season, the No. 3 mark among the tailbacks.
After that duo come the unknowns. Nakia Watson redshirted as a freshman in 2018 because he needed time to make the transition from high school to college. Watson, 5-foot-11 and 229 pounds, is a power back who can also flash speed once he sees an opening and makes a cut. He appeared tentative at times during the
spring but ran well in the final week of practice.
“He needed to redshirt,” Settle said. “Some guys come in and they may have had a great high school career. But now they get to college and it is a balance of academics, weight-lifting, practice… it just takes them a while to be able to manage all that.
“I feel like the redshirt year helped him kind of get his feet on the ground.”
Brady Schipper, a walk-on from Stoughton, worked at wide receiver while he redshirted last season. Shipper moved to tailback before the opening of spring practice and showed enough ability that he could surprise in camp.
Isaac Guerendo, who also started out at wide receiver, has size (6-0 and 213) and speed. However, he didn’t appear comfortable yet at tailback in the spring and missed the final week because of an ankle injury.
“He is playing in a confined area, so his footwork has got to be perfect,” Settle said. “His (run) tracks have to be perfect. He doesn’t have all the space he has at wide receiver… Everything in the run game has got to be on every play. He is getting better. We’re giving him a ton of reps. We’re giving him an opportunity.”
Bradrick Shaw, a fifth-year senior who hasn’t played since suffering a torn ACL in the 2017 regular-season finale and was limited to mostly individual work in the spring, is determined to play in 2019. Whether he can regain the form he showed in 2016 when he averaged 5.2 yards per carry as a reserve remains unclear.
“Bradrick is a great, great kid,” said Chryst, adding Shaw graduated last year. “But I would just love to see him get back…because two years ago I would have said: ‘This is pretty interesting because he is a pretty good player.’”
Freshman Julius Davis has the talent and confidence to contribute immediately. The only question: Will Davis be at full strength after missing most of his senior season because of a sports hernia?
“All signs point to the fact he will be healthy,” Settle said. “But once he gets here we’ll bring him along slowly. I think he had the procedure done soon enough so that he will be healthy at least by the time we get to training camp.”