Not surprisingly, Jonathan Taylor will get another crack at claiming a piece of running back hardware.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Taylor was announced as one of the 10 semifinalists for the 2018 Doak Walker Award. The Wisconsin sophomore was one of the three finalists for the 2017 award won by Stanford’s Bryce Love. Despite the fact that Love returned for another season, he’s not one of this year’s semifinalists as nagging injuries have hampered the senior all season long.
The nation’s top four backs in terms of rushing yards are represented, including Taylor (first, 1548 yards), Memphis’ Darrell Henderson (second, 1,446), Arizona State’s Eno Benjamin (third, 1,295) and Arizona’s J.J. Taylor (1,221). Two others in the Top Ten -- FAU’s Devin Singletary (sixth, 1,169), Texas A&M’s Trayveon Williams (eighth, 1,159) -- are included as well.
The other four to make the cut are Kentucky’s Benny Snell (11th, 1,089), Clemson’s Travis Etienne (13th, 1,076), Michigan’s Karan Higdon (18th, 1,005) and Boston College’s AJ Dillon (24th, 936). Dillon moves up to ninth in yards per game (117) as he’s battled a leg injury for the last few weeks.
Higdon is the only senior in the group, while Benjamin, Dillon, Etienne and both Taylors are sophomores. The other four are juniors.