On Sunday (from 3:30 p.m. live on RTL) there will be the third game of the regular season on German soil. When the Indianapolis Colts meet the New England Patriots in Frankfurt, Jonathan Taylor will also be there. The star running back has already broken many records in his professional career and in youth football. Now the record hunter is playing in Germany for the first time.
Jonathan Taylor grew up in New Jersey and after an illustrious career at the local high school, the running back has almost decided to play at Rutgers University in his homeland.
To this day, the 2,815 rushing yards he achieved last year at his school are a record in the state of New Jersey, which is why major universities also sought out the talent.
At the age of 18, Taylor changed the decision he had made and did not go to Rutgers as initially planned, but to the University of Wisconsin. When he arrived in Madison, he was supposed to take over the starting role in the backfield as a freshman and never give it up.
During his college days, he had the most rushing yards by a freshman (1,977), was twice awarded the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in college football and in 2019 achieved the most rushing yards (2,194) in a season at the highest college level . To this day, that record remains among the top 7 best single-season performances by running backs in college football history.
In total, he amassed 6,174 rushing yards in college, the fourth-most in history. Jonathan Taylor is one of the best players in his position in the more than 140-year history of youth football and has also continued his special achievements in the NFL.
Because many scouts criticized him for overheating his engine when he tried to run too many times and was prone to injuries, Jonathan Taylor fell in the second round of the NFL Draft to the Indianapolis Colts. Once there, he immediately passed 100 yards and scored a touchdown in his first game against the Minnesota Vikings. In his second year as a professional, Taylor was selected to the Pro Bowl and named All-Pro after rushing for the most yards in the 2021 season.
But then the running back’s first injuries actually crept in and the Colts hesitated for a long time in the last offseason to even extend the contract with their star. There was a strike and almost a falling out between the star running back and the Indianapolis franchise.
In the end, however, reason prevailed. Because Jonathan Taylor is the best player in the Colts squad and supposedly the most popular player on the field in Frankfurt on Sunday. After his contract extension for three years and 42 million US dollars, Taylor has been back on the field since the fifth match day.
Who knows. The current record holder for rushing yards on German soil is Rachaad White. He rushed for 105 yards in his Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ game against the Seattle Seahawks last year. Actually not a big hurdle for the record hunter in the Indianapolis Colts jersey.
Philip Forstner