Alex Taylor came to Southwest Guilford
High School just over a year ago as a basketball player. He’ll leave
sometime next spring with a college career in football awaiting him at
East Carolina University.Taylor
is a 6-foot-5, 200-pound wide receiver who accepted a scholarship offer
to join ECU’s recruiting Class of 2005 following an official visit to
Greenville on Jan. 22-24. He selected the Pirates over a variety of
small-school offers from the likes of Catawba, Elon, Indiana State,
Lenoir-Rhyne, Indiana State and The Citadel.
The limited interest from major college
programs is no doubt due to the fact that Taylor played just one season
of high school football. Basketball was Taylor’s sport and it was one
reason he transferred from Bishop McGuiness High School in Kernersville
to Southwest Guilford for his junior year.
Moving to a new school was business as
usual for Taylor. His mother, Teresa Taylor, recently finished a career
in the U.S. Army that caused Alex to grow up in a variety of places,
including Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana and Germany.
“I didn’t know him, or know of him,’’
Southwest Guilford football coach Bryan Davis said. “I had just gotten
here myself. We were already in the second or third week of our
preseason practice when he got here, so he was too far behind to play.
He had just gotten back from Germany where his mother was stationed.
“But once I got to know him a little I
tried to convince him to come out for football. He was reluctant to do
anything. I guess it was imbedded in him that he was a basketball
player. But when spring rolled around he came to some of our workouts.
Then we took him to the Wake Forest spring football game and that opened
his eyes that there aren’t many 6-5 kids like him running around a
football field.’’
Taylor decided to become a football
player that day.
“It was kind of my last chance,’’
Taylor said. “Coach Davis thought I could do a lot on the football field
and have a great impact on the team. So I decided to come out.’’
Taylor did wind up starring for the
Southwest Guilford basketball squad as a junior, averaging 14 points and
8 rebounds a game. He has improved his scoring average to 17 points a
game this season.
After his junior basketball season,
Taylor dedicated himself to learning how to become a football player.
“He was like a sponge all summer,’’
Davis said. “We went to so many different camps and combines, and I
worked with him all summer.’’
Taylor proved to be a quick study,
snaring 34 passes for 769 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns last season at
wide receiver. He also rushed for 109 yards and averaged 32.7 yards per
kickoff return.
“We had to figure out different ways to
get him the ball,’’ Davis said. “That’s how good he was. We ran
reverses, screens, all kinds of stuff to get him the ball. He runs like
a deer. He gets by people before they know it. Of his 11 touchdowns,
seven or eight of those were plays of 50 or more yards.’’
Taylor has 4.7-second speed in the
40-yard dash, according to Davis.
John Thompson’s coaching staff first
began recruiting Taylor for ECU, but Skip Holtz quickly reiterated that
interest after replacing Thompson as head coach in December.
“My coach had sent them a tape and I
guess the new staff got a copy,’’ Taylor said. “They started calling me
and told me they were interested. They felt I was the kind of receiver
who would work well in their offensive system.
“So I went up for a visit and really
enjoyed it. The facilities are nice, the campus is great and I had a
very good conversation with someone from the business school. I couldn’t
help but be impressed.
“So when they offered me a scholarship
on Sunday, I accepted immediately.’’
Taylor isn’t letting his inexperience
lower expectations for his freshman year at ECU. He wants to play and
thinks he can contribute as a true freshman.
Davis believes Taylor will be an asset
for the Pirates sooner or later.
“He’s just a terrific kid,’’ Davis
said. “He’s articulate and handles himself very well. So first of all
East Carolina is getting a fine young man.
“As a football player, he’s so tall.
He’s 6-5 and can be five yards away from a defender, then, in what seems
like one step, he’s two yards behind the defender. I think he’ll be an
asset at East Carolina once he learns their system and gets adjusted to
the college life.’’
