Heisman rankings Week 6: Jonathan Taylor running over everyone
The 2019 Heisman Trophy rankings get more interesting by the week as Jonathan Taylor asserted his place alongside the elite quarterbacks in Week 6.
For many, the 2019 Heisman Trophy race has been and will continue to be about the quarterbacks. When you have star players like Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, LSU’s Joe Burrow and even Ohio State’s Justin Fields playing at the level that they are, it’s hard to not favor them in terms of the Heisman watch list. Jonathan Taylor, however, is here to crash that quarterback party.
To be sure, the Wisconsin Badgers running back was the leading non-quarterback candidate to compete for the Heisman Trophy entering the college football season. Through the first five weeks of action, though, it felt as if he was getting largely lost in the shuffle in many discussions because of the play of the quarterbacks in the race.
While that may have been the case, Taylor was taking the field and dominating every week, registering eight rushing touchdowns, over 500 rushing yards and adding three receiving touchdowns through the first four games of the year. Even then, he needed to leave no doubt about his place in the Heisman race, and that’s what he did on Saturday in Week 6.
Yes, the Badgers were playing against Kent State but Taylor made them truly look as if they didn’t even field a defense. On the day, the Wisconsin star found the end zone five times — four rushing, one receiving — and topped 200 total yards for the day. He also did that while not playing all but 40 seconds of the second half.
As good as the star quarterbacks throughout college football have been this season, Taylor has been on their level. He is the heart of the Badgers offense and he is running like a man that has no defensive equals, no matter who he’s up against.
Of course, Taylor’s big performance in Week 6 leads us to our top 10 Heisman rankings. Before we get into them, though, it’s important to mention players like Ian Book and J.K. Dobbins, both of whom are having great years and had big games on Saturday. However, the consistency or how they stack up against others just isn’t there at this point.
Taking all of that into account, let’s dive into the Week 6 Heisman rankings, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1.