J.J. Taylor

Taylor played a much bigger role in 2017, as he saw 146 touches and averaged 5.8 yards per carry. He broke out against Washington State and Oregon State, scampering for 153 yards and 129 yards, respectively. Taylor is slated to be the top dog out of the backfield for the upcoming season, with not much experience behind him between Nathan Tilford and Branden Leon. Quarterback Khalil Tate will undoubtedly absorb a large chunk of Arizona's workload, as Tate recorded 153 rushing attempts in 2017, although there should be plenty of carries to go around with Arizona's run-heavy offense even with new coach Kevin Sumlin at the helm. Taylor figures to garner plenty of opportunities, especially if the Wildcats put less of an emphasis on Tate's running in order to keep him fresh over the course of the season. Tilford is a name to keep an eye on in the Arizona backfield, however, as he has a size advantage over Taylor that could net him goal-line opportunities.

Taylor has just four games under his belt after having his freshman season cut short by an ankle injury, but he was undeniably impressive when given the opportunity. He torched Hawaii and Washington for a combined 265 yards and two touchdowns on 37 total carries before being felled by the ankle injury. A healthy Taylor enters the year behind senior Nick Wilson in the Arizona backfield, but Wilson has missed nine of 25 games over the past two seasons due to injury in his own right, so there’s a chance coach Rich Rodriguez tries to spread the carries so as to not overload the senior back. With that, Taylor stands to see a decent workload that he should be able to convert into strong per-carry production. It is worth noting that Taylor (5-6, 170) is on the smaller end of the spectrum, so he shouldn’t be expected to see workhorse volume even if Arizona suffers attrition to the rest of its running back corps