On New Year’s Day, the University of Wisconsin’s football season ended in a one-point loss to the University of Oregon in the storied Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
There was, however, no time for reflection for the Badgers’ star running back, Jonathan Taylor — a Salem, NJ, native who had a banner season rushing for 2,003 yards and scoring 26 touchdowns.
By the next day, his bags were packed, and he was on a plane to Arizona. He is forgoing his final year of college to declare for the NFL draft.
But before the draft — which is like Oscars night for football, complete with snazzy suits and contentiously debated picks — hot-to-trot hopefuls such as Taylor head to an immersive seven-to-eight week training camp to sharpen their speed, strength and mental focus.
“This is when it all starts,” Taylor, a 5-foot-11 bruiser tells The Post. “I’m in the zone, knowing I would be here and focused and ready to work.”
It’s all for the NFL combine, a showcase to measure a gridiron warrior’s athleticism and maturity. Kicking off Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis — and airing on the NFL Network — the combine puts athletes through rigorous physical tests and interviews with team executives.
The stakes are incredibly high: A good performance might push a prospect from the second round to the first — and mean the difference of millions of dollars in salary.
“The combine is a job interview, and it’s the biggest one they will have,” Jon Barlow, a performance specialist who works with Taylor, tells The Post. “Depending on how they perform, it’s an opportunity to trampoline their career.”
Taylor is doing his training with Barlow at Exos in Phoenix, a facility that saw 10 of its athletes picked in the first round of the 2017 draft. Odell Beckham Jr., JJ Watt and Andrew Luck have all done their combine preparation there.
The program is a holistic six-days-a-week regimen designed to turn these former student athletes into finely-tuned machines.
“You are trying to perfect everything. You want to put on a clean and crisp show. You are more than capable of doing the drills, but you have to do them with perfect execution,” says Taylor.
On a typical day, Taylor arrives for breakfast at 9 a.m., and kicks off an hour-long speed session at 10 a.m. Then he lifts weights for 30 minutes before moving on to position drills.
Of the combine’s events, the 40-yard dash is particularly important for running backs. Giants star running back Saquon Barkley’s combine 40 time was 4.4 seconds, and Taylor’s aiming for a similar time.
Taylor regularly does the “load and lift,” which is a wall drill that simulates the first steps of the 40-yard dash. It works the hamstrings, quads and glutes, and teaches proper position and angle to create an explosive start.
“If you don’t come out at a proper position, you’re not going to run a good time,” says Barlow.
Then there is the Keiser power squat, which is done in a machine with the weight loaded onto the shoulders. Taylor squats with 450 to 500 pounds.
“They have to move the heavy weights as fast as possible so it builds lower-body power that they transfer to the 40,” says Barlow.
After his morning training, Taylor breaks for lunch and returns for more speed sessions and lifting. At about 5 or 5:30, it’s quitting time, and he recovers with ice baths, physical therapy and hydration. He spends his off time studying game film and old plays — and taking a needed mental break. “I’m a gamer, so I will play some ‘Call of Duty.’ It’s me time,” Taylor says.
While players are judged on their physical gifts, they also have to show they’re emotionally ready to go to the next level. In addition to interviews with team coaches, scouts and general managers, athletes complete psychological testing and a Wonderlic cognitive ability test. This area isn’t so much an issue for the “inquisitive” Taylor: The high-school honor student and onetime aspiring astrophysicist was a philosophy major at Wisconsin, and was heavily recruited by Harvard.
One of Taylor’s other goals is to slim down his 219-pound frame to increase his speed. For now, he’s on a “clean diet,” with breakfast consisting of two scoops of scrambled eggs, two pieces of turkey sausage, fruit and either whole wheat toast or a tortilla. For lunch and dinner, he has grilled chicken and white rice with broccoli or other vegetables.
“I am a picky eater, so I usually eat the same thing. And you want to eat as many vegetables as possible.”
He admits to missing mom Elizabeth’s chicken pot pie. “I can’t wait to have that again,” he adds.
Still, being more than 2,000 miles from his mom’s home cooking and his Jersey roots has an advantage.
“It helps mentally, especially if you are far from home. If I were home, I would have family and friends or people who watched me play growing up talking about the draft.”
Taylor — who is a Houston Texans fan because he idolized now-retired running back Arian Foster — will be excited no matter which team dials his number. But for now, he’s staying focused on his workouts.
“You don’t know where you are going until they call you,” he says. “You gotta work until the phone rings.”