Three Badgers named to AFCA All-America teams

Repeat after me: three Wisconsin Badgers were named to another prestigious All-America team. The American Football Coaches of America (AFCA) selected their best players in the country and to the surprise of no one, the Badgers had multiple selections.

The AFCA named sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor—who has been named to every All-America team on this and every other planet for 2018—and redshirt senior offensive guard Beau Benzschawel as first-team honorees. Fellow redshirt senior offensive guard, Michael Deiter, was picked for the second team.

Everyone knows the stats by now, but it should be noted that Doak Walker Award winner Taylor is only 11 yards away from gaining 2,000 on the season. Thankfully, Taylor will have Deiter and Benzschawel escorting him down the field against Miami in the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27th (4:15 p.m. CT, ESPN).

Last season, offensive tackle David Edwards, linebacker T.J. Edwards and tight end Troy Fumagalli were named to the AFCA teams (David Edwards as a first-team selection, Fumagalli and T.J. Edwards as second-team honorees). Recently, Wisconsin greats like Melvin Gordon, Rob Havenstein, Montee Ball, Kevin Zeitler, Peter Konz and Gabe Carimi have all been named to AFCA All-America teams.

I have to imagine the graphic design intern for the athletic department is running out of ways to put these three in a picture together to celebrate their accomplishments. At least they didn’t have to think too hard about this last one, as I’m sure they had it made up before the season even began.