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Sharing the College Experience: Larry Taylor
11/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 29, 2001
Nov. 10, 2001 - "Football in Paradise" is the term Howard Schnellenberger uses to describe the opportunity young men have to play college football at Florida Atlantic University. Weatherwise, this fall there have been four beautiful Saturdays in which Schnellenberger's phrase would appropriately apply. Just one home game began with rain.
Coach Schnellenberger agreed to build the Owls football program because he believes- and has proven twice (at Miami and Louisville)-that South Florida is rich with football talent. He knew that players would elect to stay home to play, "allowing the mammas and papas" to watch their sons mature on the football field while earning their degrees from one of the fastest growing universities in the country.
Wide receiver Larry Taylor elected to stay in Florida after considering Tulsa and Akron. There are at least 15 people (not counting the FAU coaching staff) who are thankful the 5-7, 170-pound freshman stayed close to home. They are the 15 people who have made every home game and the trip to Daytona Beach for the FAU-Bethune Cookman game. They are the people who have pushed and driven Taylor, probably harder than his coaches have. They are Larry Taylor's family.
Taylor joined the FAU football team in January of 2001. The young Owls had already begun the bonding and the learning process that comes with college football.
"I knew Anthony Jackson from the high school all-star game," says Taylor. "Because of that, it was easy to make friends."
Making friends was the easy part. Locking himself in as a game starter would prove more difficult. Following spring drills, Taylor was listed second on the two-deep and questioned if the work was worth it.
"The hype about the other receivers and not being a starter were not the only motivating factors," explains Taylor. "What really gave me the incentive to keep at it was my father. I was worried about coming in late. He told me to keep working. He believed in my talent and knew I could get into the rotation."
Taylor started the Owls first game against Slippery Rock, due to roster depletions. The second game was the team's first road trip-to Daytona Beach-where the young team faced the 22nd-rated team in the nation.
Through driving rain and on a muddy field, FAU prevailed 31-28, for the program's first victory. The Larry Taylor fan club witnessed its favorite player pull down a 41-yard reception and scamper for a touchdown, and a 24-10 Owl lead. At game's end the personal fan club interrupted Coach Schnellenberger's post-game press conference to give Taylor a hug and exhort the freshman to "keep working, we are going to win a lot of games together."
Was it that game that Taylor became a starter? He doesn't think so. He believes it is consistency at both practice and at games.
"You never feel secure that you're going to start every game," he says. "If you go out each Saturday and continue to make plays, you will continue to be in the rotation, but if you go out and don't make the plays you can't be secure."
More than likely, it is the discipline and teachings from FAU wide receivers coach Fred O'Connor that have helped Taylor along. O'Connor has served as a collegiate head coach and an interim head coach in the NFL, coaching stars such as Walter Payton, John Riggins, O.J. Simpson, Joe Thiesman and Art Monk.
Taylor's combined strong two-a-days with the support of his father and the knowledge that O'Connor expected nothing less than 100% effort drove him to a starting spot.
"He (O'Connor) expects nothing but the best out of you," says Taylor. "As long as you give him your best effort, he is easy to get along with. He never compares us to each other or to his former players. There are players in the NFL that he may tell us to watch their techniques, but he treats us as individuals."
Today, Taylor will look in the stands to individuals. Individuals who wear his shirt. Individuals who travel from Sebastian River, Florida, to watch no. 9 play. Those individuals range from family members who Taylor believes had the talent to attend college but didn't take advantage of the opportunity, to those who never had the opportunity, but can now experience college through him.
In the stands will also be his former high school teammates and his high school coach, Randy Bethel-the coach who encouraged him to give up baseball for track so he could improve his overall speed and thus his collegiate football opportunities. In the stands will be his two younger brothers: Darrell, who dreams of playing college football, and Christopher, who will most likely stick to baseball. Leading the cheers will be Taylor's mother Sherry and father Larry, Sr. Taylor will enter the game as the team's leader in receptions and in yards per reception, including the team's longest reception, a 71-yard grab. For those who are cheering for him, FAU football is "Football in Paradise"-rain or shine.
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