Please do not even go there, Louis Riddick.
Riddick, an ESPN college football analyst, believes Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor is “dwarfing” what THE greatest college football player of all-time, Herschel Walker, did during his career at Georgia.
Riddick said:
“He’s rewriting history. It’s an incredible statement, but it’s supported by facts. I grew up watching Herschel Walker…he was the standard. He’s been the standard for a long time. Jonathan Taylor’s production is dwarfing Herschel Walker’s in his first two years of college football. That is rewriting history.”
I can understand why Riddick may think that (kind of), but I just can’t even come close to getting on board with it.
So, is Taylor really “dwarfing” Herschel’s production in term of stats? Not at all, and the facts don’t actually support that he is either.
In his first two seasons, which consisted of 27 games, Taylor totaled 4,171 yards and 29 touchdowns. That’s an average of 154 yards and 1.074 touchdowns per game.
Compare that to Herschel’s first two seasons as a Bulldog, and Taylor’s total yardage is better. But there’s more to it than that.
Herschel tallied 3,507 yards and 33 touchdowns…in 22 games — an average of 160 yards (compared to Taylor’s 154) and 1.5 touchdowns (compared to Taylor’s 1.074) per game. It’s important to remember, stats from bowl games did not count back then to a player’s total end-of-season stat line. Had Herschel played 27 games in his first two seasons, his stats prorate to 4,320 yards, 149 yards more than Taylor totaled.
And let’s certainly not forget that Herschel did more than just run for a lot of yards. He literally took a 5-6 team from the previous season and carried Georgia to a national championship, the ultimate level of production, during his freshman season.
Don’t get me wrong, Taylor came close to doing the same as a freshman, rushing for 1,977 yards and leading the Badgers to a 13-1 season, just to be left out of the Playoff by the committee. But they followed it up with an 8-5 season.
In Herschel’s three years, his Bulldogs only lost three times, won three SEC Championships and played in two national championship games.
Taylor is a great player and I’ve seen him make some incredible runs. However, what separates Herschel from other elite backs is that he made the impossible runs. He never wore down, even after averaging 35 carries a game during his sophomore season. Instead, he just wore you down.
