Lucas Taylor
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Lucas Taylor (born September 28, 1986) is a wide receiver for the University of Tennessee Volunteers in the NCAA college football tournament. The athletic and versatile Taylor never had the chance to shine in his first two seasons as a Volunteer when Tennessee had a very talented receiving corps at its disposal. When he finally had the opportunity to see the field and get as much touches as he deserved, he became the team's leading catcher with single season highs in every receiving category. Taylor also displayed his passing skills, which he predominantly used during his high school years, in several occassions to produce highlight reel-worthy moments.
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Personal Life
Lucas, a native of Louisiana (resides in Carencro), majors in Sociology at the University of Tennessee. The soft-spoken Lucas, who oftentimes prefers to let his game do the talking, never speaks much because he has a speech impediment---a stutter that comes from his mother's side of the family. He was often teased about his stutter as a child. The stutter was so severe that when he was a quarterback for Carencro (La.) High, he had a teammate call the plays in the huddle. [1]
High School
The versatile Taylor was a three-sport athlete at Carencro High (the same school that produced running back Kevin Faulk), playing football, basketball, and track and field (he has a triple-jump of better than 45 feet). It was however in the gridiron, while playing under head coach Mac Barousse, that he got noticed by several collegiate teams. Taylor suited up as a quarterback for the Golden Bears, earning the nod to start in each of his last three years at Carencro which incidentally made it to the playoffs for three straight years with Taylor calling the plays. During his junior year, he piloted the Golden Bears to a 12-2 record and a berth at the state semifinals after throwing for 1,520 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushing for 1,624 yards and 13 scores.
The following year, he passed for 550 yards and five touchdowns, rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 15 scores, and returned one punt and kickoff for touchdowns, en route to being named into the Class 5A All-State honorable mention team in addition to being listed into the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Super Southern 100 team. One of Taylor's career highlight at Carencro was when he rushed for a Louisiana state-record 539 yards in a game, in addition to six touchdowns.
College
A three-star rated recruit, Taylor received rave reviews for his play in high school. Aside from Tennessee, other teams that offered him scholarships include Auburn, Mississippi, and Oklahoma State. Coach Nick Saban, who was with LSU back then, also got into the "Taylor-mix" as he also tried to recruit the Lafayette, La. native. Taylor however has decided to leave the state after giving his commitment to play for the Volunteers on early January of 2005, becoming UT's 15th commitment.
2005
With receivers such as Robert Meachem, C.J. Fayton, Chris Hannon, Bret Smith, and Jayson Swain returning to the Vols' line-up, Taylor was relegated to special teams duties. After sitting out the Vols' first two games, he finally saw the field on the third game, making his collegiate debut at his home state to face the LSU Tigers. In that game, he returned three punts for 20 yards and two kickoffs for 45 yards as the Vols escaped with a 30-27 win. The following week, apart from returning 3 punts for 21 yards, he also had his first touches on offense when he was handed the football twice, gaining 4 yards in the 27-10 win over Ole Miss. In the team's loss to Georgia, Taylor had a season high 4 kickoff returns for 71 yards before registering a season high of 74 yards on 3 kick off returns in the loss @ Alabama. He had his most gain on offense at 18 yards on a single carry in the loss to South Carolina in addition to rushing attempts in the loss to Vanderbilt and in the season finale @ Kentucky. In the Vandy game, Taylor also returned two kickoffs for a total of 77 yards and had career-long return of 47 yards.
He finished his inaugural season with 6 carries for 19 yards, 13 punt returns for 80 yards, and 19 kickoff returns for 428 yards, totalling 527 all-purpose yards in 9 appearances which ranked third on the team.
2006
During the Orange and White Game, Taylor had 2 carries and 3 receptions for 18 yards for the losing Orange team. Taylor was still listed deep on the rotation in the wide receiver position while continuing on his special teams duties.
He made his sophomore season debut against California where he caught a 5-yard pass while registering 2 tackles in the 35-18 win over the Bears. The following week, he caught a career high 45-yard pass from Erik Ainge while returning his first kickoff for 9 yards in the 31-30 win over Air Force. In the team's first loss of the season, he connected on his first career pass---a 48-yard touchdown toss to LaMarcus Coker after taking an endaround handoff---on the second quarter of the 20-21 heartbreaker to Florida. He also returned 2 kickoffs for a season high 36 yards against the Gators. After adding another catch for 13 yards in the win over Marshall, Taylor caught a season high 4 passes for 11 yards and returned a kickoff for 25 yards in UT's road opener @ Memphis. He also caught a 10-yard pass and returned a couple of kickoffs for 32 yards @ Georgia before adding a 7-yard reception and a pair of stops in the 16-13 win at home against Alabama.
Taylor's streak of games with a reception went on for the next four games, catching a pass in the wins @ South Carolina and @ Vanderbilt, and in losses to LSU and @ Arkansas. It was only snapped in the regular season finale victory over Kentucky, when the only stat he tallied was a kick-off he returned for 16 yards. He then made his postseason debut against Penn State in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida, catching a 3 yard pass and recording a solo tackle in the 10-20 loss to the Nittany Lions.
2007
The departure of Meachem, Swain, and Smith opened the doors for the Vol's younger receivers, Taylor included. He joined the first team in spring practice and had the opportunity to show his talent in UT's annual spring game when he caught the game-winning 2-yard touchdown in the final minute to carry his White team to a 16-13 win over the Orange squad.
In his first career start, Taylor had a single carry and caught 6 passes for 103 yards with a career-long 43 yard reception in the Vols' 31-45 loss to Cal. In the 39-19 win over Southern Miss the following week, he had 5 receptions for 118 yards while combining with fellow receiver Austin Rogers to become the first UT receiving duo to haul in over 100 yards each in the same game since the 1997 SEC Championship Game. Following his 6-reception, 57-yard effort in the loss to Florida, Taylor recorded a game for the books when he registered his 4th career 100-yard receiving game (104 yards on 7 receptions) in addition to a pair of touchdown catches which are the firsts of his career, in the 48-27 win over Arkansas State. Against UGa., Taylor not only paced the team in receptions (6) and receiving yards (50), he also connected on his second career pass when he hit his favorite recipient (Coker) for a 56-yard score in the 35-14 triumph over the Dawgs. At Mississippi State, Taylor collected career-highs of 11 receptions and 186 receiving yards with 1 TD reception in the 33-21 win. His 11 catches were the most receptions in a game by a Vol since 2001, and his 186 yards marked the highest receiving total by a Vol since 2002 while his 51-yard TD connection with Ainge stood as the longest reception of his career.
The downside of Taylor's outstanding performance against the Bulldogs was the toe injury he sustained during that game which clearly limited him on UT's 17-41 loss to Alabama where he was limited to a season low 2 catches for 15 yards. His condition improved against South Carolina as he contributed four catches for 57 yards, including a 37-yard catch that set up a Volunteer score in the 27-24 win over the Gamecocks. He also led UT's talented receiving corps in the 59-7 lopsided win over Louisiana-Lafayette with 5 receptions for 52 yards, then turned out 4 catches for a gain of 41 in the 34-13 win over Arkansas, before improving his season stats with his 9 receptions for 90 yards and a 6-yard TD in the close 25-24 win over the Commodores. Taylor registered his 5th 100-yard effort at Kentucky with 103 yards and a TD on 6 receptions in the high-scoring 52-50 win over UK which settled the Vols' hold of the SEC East crown. UT's 5-game winning streak was however halted by eventual national champs LSU, with Taylor once again held to a season low 2 catches for 25 yards in the 14-21 defeat.
Taylor's receiving prowess was however missed by UT in the Outback Bowl as he, along with fellow starters linebacker Rico McCoy and defensive tackle Demonte Bolden were declared ineligible for the postseason showdown with Wisconsin (the trio's fall semester grades didn't meet NCAA and Southeastern Conference requirements to play). Despite his junior year halted unexpectedly, Taylor still managed to pace the team in receptions (73) and receiving yards (1,000) with 5 scoring catches to boot. His 73 catches were just four short of the school single-season record. He also made it to the All-SEC (second team) selection) for the first time.
2008
In early January, Taylor had an arthroscopic reconstruction on his shoulder which forced him to sit out spring practice.
Career Stats
| Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | ||||||||||
| Year | Rec | RecYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | RshYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lst |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 3.2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 14 | 101 | 7.2 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 73 | 1000 | 13.7 | 51 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Highlights
| Lucas Taylor throws a 56-yard touchdown pass to LaMarcus Coker against Georgia (2007). |
Achievements
2008
- Athlon Sports Preseason All-SEC Second Team
- Phil Steele Preseason All-SEC Second Team
2007
- All-SEC Associated Press 2nd Team
- Phil Steele First Team All-SEC
References
- Lucas Taylor @ Cfbstats.com
- Taylor catching up fast
- Lucas Taylor Scout.com Profile
- Taylor catches on quickly, shows no signs of letting up
- Lucas Taylor ESPN.com Profile
- Taylor is Number "15"
