BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Timothy Taylor Jr. is taking his athletic ability and a strong work ethic with him to Jacksonville State University in Alabama, but a gathering at Starke’s R.J.E. Center on Feb. 5 showed that he’ll be taking something else with him as well — love.
Taylor, a defensive lineman, played at Williston High School his junior and senior seasons, but he and his family held a signing ceremony in Starke, where he lives. It allowed the people who know him best to show their support and offer words of encouragement. Almost everyone at the event was given a chance to speak.
If one thing came through more than anything else, it was that Taylor won’t be alone on the next step of his journey. One person told him, “You’ve got everybody behind you,” while another said, “We’ve got your back.”
People described him as one who loves God and reminded him to continue to lean on the Lord. One person said, “You come from a God-fearing family. Keep God first, and I see great things for you.”
Taylor has already received one great thing — the chance to keep playing football after high school.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a child. It’s all coming true.”
Taylor, who played at Bradford High School as a freshman and at Union County High School as a sophomore, led Williston in tackles this past season with 80, while he was second on the team in tackles for loss with 10.
As a junior, Taylor had 48 tackles, which tied him for third on the team. His 12 tackles for loss led the team.
Taylor said his decision on colleges came down to Jacksonville State and Western Carolina. He chose Jacksonville State because of its new coaching staff, which includes Head Coach Charles Kelly. Kelly was most recently the co-defensive coordinator at Auburn and was a defensive coordinator at Colorado and associate defensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. Kelly has had coaching stops at schools such as FSU, Georgia Tech and Tennessee.
Jacksonville’s new defensive line coach, Xavier Garcia, has coached at such schools as Duke, Georgia Tech, SMU and Temple.
“I picked Jacksonville State because Coach Charles Kelly is a man of his word,” Taylor said. “I like the history he has of developing players.
“I just like a new coaching staff and new opportunities.”
Taylor also likes the fact that Jacksonville State is a program “on the rise” after its recent move up from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision.
“They won Conference USA last year,” Taylor said. “The standards are high. I’m definitely ready to get there and work.”
If anyone can attest to Taylor’s work ethic and desire to get better, it’s his position coach at Williston — Gerard “Big Money” Warren, the former University of Florida and NFL player who was a member of Union County High School’s three state-championship teams in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
“I knew he came from an athletic family, so the genetics were already there,” Warren said. “What blew me away was his work ethic and his attention to detail and his hunger to learn more. When I talked to these college coaches, I told them, ‘You’ll be inheriting a sponge. This is a guy who truly loves the game of football, and he yearns for more knowledge, always trying to get better.’”
In assessing his game, Taylor believes what he does best is “fly around and make plays.” As he put it, “I play see ball-get ball.”
Warren agreed, saying, “He’s a guy who plays for four quarters. He’s always giving effort in giving chase and trying to get to the football. A lot of big guys tend to take plays off here and there, but this guy has a motor, and he continues to go and go.”
Taylor said he knows the game speed will be at another level in college, so he believes what he does before the season starts will help him make the transition from high-school ball.
“I feel like what I’m going to do in the offseason is going to pay off,” he said.
Warren said Taylor, who’s 6-1, 280, will need to get stronger and perhaps a little quicker, but he has the fundamentals down, which is a big plus.
“He’s got all the tools to be successful,” Warren said.
It’ll be a special moment when Taylor steps onto the field for the first time as a college player, but so, too, was the signing ceremony he got to participate in at R.J.E.
“I grew up here as a kid,” he said. “I always wanted to do this when I got older and made my decision to go to college. I feel like they’re the people who raised me. They raised me right. I’m thankful for them.”
