Jonathan Taylor, Beau Benzschawel and Michael Deiter named AP All-Americans
MADISON – The ground game has been the most consistent weapon in Wisconsin’s offensive arsenal in 2018.
Not surprisingly, three key members of the Badgers' offense on Monday were named to The Associated Press All-American football team.
Tailback Jonathan Taylor, who leads the nation in rushing at 165.8 yards per game and last week was named the winner of the Doak Walker Award, was a first-team pick.
Senior right guard Beau Benzschawel joined Taylor on the first team, and senior left guard Michael Deiter was a second-team pick.
No other UW player made the first, second or third teams.
UW finished the regular season averaging 268.4 rushing yards per game, the No. 7 mark nationally.
Taylor averaged 7.1 yards per carry but reserves Taiwan Deal and Garrett Groshek were close behind at 6.8 and 6.6 yards per carry, respectively. In addition, fullback Alec Ingold averaged 6.3 yards per carry. Taylor has 15 rushing touchdowns, Deal has five, Ingold has five and Groshek has one.
Taylor made AP's second team as a freshman and Benzschawel was a third-team pick as a junior. Deiter did not make the AP team last season.
Taylor and Deiter were also selected to the Football Writers' Association of America All-American team.
By being named to three of the five All-America teams recognized by the NCAA, Taylor is UW's 27th consensus All-American.
Taylor, named to the Walter Camp All-American team last week, is the fifth UW running back to be named a consensus All-American. He joins Alan Ameche (1954), Ron Dayne (1999), Montee Ball (2011, 2012) and Melvin Gordon (2014)
Dayne and Gordon were unanimous All-Americans. Taylor can match their feat if he is named to the Sporting News and AFCA teams later this week.
Benzschawel is just the third UW offensive lineman to repeat as a first-team All-American. The others were Dennis Lick (1974-'75) and Joe Thomas (2005-'06). Benzschawel was a first-team selection by Sports Illustrated last season.
Deiter, the Rimington-Pace Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year, has started a school-record 53 games. He owns the longest active streak of starts by an FBS offensive lineman.
Recruiting update
UW’s staff flipped one recruit over the weekend and hopes to the same to another this week.
Quan Easterling, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound fullback from Akron, Ohio, committed to UW after initially committing to Akron. He also had offers from Toledo and Marshall.
Titus Toler, a 5-11, 180-pound safety from California who has given Colorado a non-binding oral commitment, visited UW over the weekend.
Colorado recently hired former UW safety Melvin Tucker as its head coach to replace the fired Mike MacIntyre.
In addition to Colorado and UW, schools that have offered Toler include Arizona State California, Washington, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington State.