BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — It went beyond his first catch of 18 yards on the opening possession of the Orange Bowl; beyond even his three receptions, including a 16-yard touchdown, on a 12-play second quarter drive that pushed Wisconsin into a lead that it would not relinquish against the Miami Hurricanes.
It went beyond another catch of 18 yards during a second-half scoring march culminating with a Rafael Gaglianone field goal; beyond even his 24-yard reception in the fourth quarter that gave him a career-high eight catches for 105 yards; his first time over the century mark in 27 games.
It went beyond the numbers for Ammon Joseph (A.J.) Taylor.
"I do think about this," said Taylor, a junior wide receiver from Kansas City, Missouri. "I don't know necessarily if there was a turning point. But I can tell you that the Miami game was the first game I felt …" There was a pause before he added, "I felt like I was just having fun."
That manifested itself after an early offensive series.
"I came back and sat on the bench and I remember the feeling that I felt," Taylor said. "I was just having fun and playing football. I wasn't worried about anything else. I wasn't worried about messing up. I wasn't worried about anything really."
A late December bowl might have contributed to his peace of mind knowing that there would be a chance to go home and see family — his mom is an attorney and his dad is a manager for a foster care program in Kansas City — before the start of the second semester and winter conditioning.
Whatever the case, Taylor used the Orange Bowl as a springboard from one season to the next.
"The past couple of games, I've felt the same way — I'm just playing football right now," said Taylor, conceding that he might be putting less pressure on himself. "I think that might be it. I don't care about the pressure anymore. That was a big deal for me last year that I had to work on a lot."
With 18 catches for 324 yards over the last three games combined (Miami, Western Kentucky and New Mexico), he looked back on this productive stretch and said, "That's definitely a good thing — leaving on a positive and starting off on a positive. Now, it's just about building consistency."
Three months after the Orange Bowl, Taylor took another step in shaping his game by accompanying quarterback Alex Hornibrook to San Diego, the home base of the heralded quarterback whisperer George Whitfield Jr., who had previously worked with Hornibrook.
While there, Taylor trained with former NFL wide receiver Lance Moore, who finished with 389 catches for 4,816 yards and 44 touchdowns during a 10-year-plus career, most of which was spent playing for the New Orleans Saints with whom he earned a Super Bowl ring.
On Moore's teaching points, Taylor said, "It was more on details, on the fundamentals, relaxing my body when I'm going in and out of breaks, making it look the same and keeping a comfortable state while having fast feet. It was good to keep that mental sharpness on football (over spring break)."
There was another benefit to the trip — besides the Southern California weather and sights — and that was Hornibrook and Taylor growing closer together. "There was more time to develop chemistry," Taylor said, "and whenever you can do that with your quarterback, it's always a good thing."
After two games, Taylor leads the Badgers in receiving with 10 catches; he's averaging 21.9 yards per catch, and 109.5 yards per game, tops in the Big Ten. Last Saturday, Hornibrook attempted just 11 passes and completed eight, five to Taylor.
Taylor 'n' Taylor (T 'n' T) were dynamite against the Lobos.
A.J. Taylor had a career-high 134 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Jonathan Taylor had a career-high 253 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
"I was telling him (JT), 'I'm just trying to make it to your level,'" said the 5-foot-11, 203-pound A.J. Taylor, who's only 19 years old. "He works really hard; he has worked to get there. I've been working, too. For both of us to share a little bit of the spotlight together was cool."
Taylor's emergence among the wide receivers has been particularly timely and critical because of suspensions to Quintez Cephus (indefinite) and Danny Davis, who will be available for Saturday's rematch with BYU at Camp Randall Stadium.
Last September, Wisconsin overwhelmed the Cougars, 40-6, in Provo, Utah. Hornibrook had only one incompletion (18-of-19 for 256 yards), while Taylor had three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown. He also had a 42-yard kickoff return, the longest of the season for the Badgers.
"I remember getting hit pretty hard — you can't sleep on those guys," Taylor said. "They look like they've got a better team now and they're going to bring it. This game is just as important as any other. But it's time to focus on the details and really come together as a team and see who we are."
Taylor's stock has obviously been rising, which is fitting for this personal finance major. This semester, he's taking classes in accounting, estate planning and statistics; someone else's and not his. But there is one individual stat that he has been trying to address: drops.
He has made some of the tough catches look easy. And some of the easy ones look tough.
"It can be a mental lapse — or I don't even know how to explain it — but you just miss balls sometimes," said Taylor, an all-state tailback at Rockhurst High School. "But you can't dwell on it. Every position has it (lapses). Ours is just where you can see it the most; ours and probably defensive backs."
Taylor has taken on a "next play mentality" not unlike a defensive back. At a recent assembly of student-athletes from all sports, Taylor was so impressed with what he heard from one of the guest speakers that he adopted something she stressed: "Your ability to focus is your power."
Taylor has thought about it often since first hearing and digesting the message.
"That sunk in deep," he said.
