Jonathan Taylor could have a new team soon.

Indianapolis has reportedly talked with teams about Taylor, and seeing Green Bay mentioned took me back to his days at Wisconsin.

I remember watching Taylor with the Badgers and wondering how many yards he was going to get almost every Saturday. Now there's at least a possibility he could be playing in Wisconsin again, just on Sundays this time.

The trade talk did get me looking at his Wisconsin career again. I knew Taylor put up huge numbers, but it's easy to forget some of this stuff when he's been in the NFL for several years.

I Had Forgotten Some of These Numbers

He left Wisconsin with 6,174 rushing yards.

Taylor played three seasons at Wisconsin. He almost hit 2,000 yards his first year, finishing with 1,977 as a freshman.

Then he got even better. Taylor ran for 2,194 yards during his sophomore season and won the Doak Walker Award. He won it again the following year after another 2,000-yard season.

Ron Dayne is still ahead of him on the Big Ten career rushing list. That's not exactly bad company.

Taylor never won the Heisman. I remember thinking he had a chance at it more than once while he was at Wisconsin, especially with the numbers he was putting up. He was in the top 10 of the voting each year and got as high as fifth in 2019.

Would winning one have made his Wisconsin career look better? Sure. I don't think he needed it.

He was gone after 41 games. Taylor scored 50 rushing touchdowns in those games and left for the NFL without playing a senior season.

James White Brought Up Retiring Numbers

James White talked about this recently on Chris Long's Green Light podcast. Taylor was there with him, along with Melvin Gordon and Montee Ball.

White thinks their numbers should be retired.

I'm probably not ready to retire all of them. Wisconsin has had too many great players for me to start handing out that honor to everybody who put up big numbers.

Taylor is different for me.

Wisconsin hasn't retired a football number since Ron Dayne's No. 33 in 2007. I don't know why it has to be nearly impossible for somebody else to get that honor. There have been some pretty good Badgers since Dayne left Madison.

Taylor belongs near the top of that list.

I'd Retire No. 23

We'll find out soon enough what Indianapolis does with Taylor. If Green Bay gets him, I'll definitely be interested in seeing what he looks like in that offense.

But I don't need to know his next NFL team to know where I stand on his Wisconsin number.

Taylor came to Madison and was one of the best running backs in college football almost immediately. He kept doing it until the day he left. By the time his three years were over, he had rushed for more than 6,000 yards.

I think No. 23 has been worn enough.

Put it up there with Dayne's 33.