The greatest player in the history of college football (IMHO, and just barely ahead of Barry Sanders) has seen another of his records fall to the wayside.
On a three-yard run early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Nebraska, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor pushed his career total to 5,598 yards (and counting). That moved him past Georgia Hall of Famer Herschel Walker‘s 5,596 for the most rushing yards through their junior season in FBS history.
Taylor, who ran for 1,977 yards as a true freshman and 2,194 last season, still has two games remaining in the regular season plus at least one in the postseason to add to his total. If Taylor eschews the NFL draft and returns to school, he could surpass former Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne as the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher (7,125 from 1996-99, including bowl games) even as the NCAA officially recognizes San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey (6,405) as its all-time leading rusher because the organization doesn’t recognize any statistics earned in bowl games played prior to 2002.
Taylor will enter Week 13 with 5,634 career yards after rushing for 204 this afternoon.