When Karl Dorrell had to choose a player to accompany him to
Pac-10 media day in August, the choice was simple.
It would not be Ben Olson, the guy destined to start the season
at quarterback.
It would not be Chris Markey, the running back taking the reins
from all-world speedster Maurice Drew.
And it would not be Christian Taylor, the linebacker leader of a
hopefully newly improved defense.
It was Junior Taylor, the unassuming fifth-year wide
receiver.
Taylor was coming off a knee injury in 2005 that had derailed
his true senior season. After the successes of the wide receivers
in 2005, it was likely that he wouldn’t even be starting this
season.
Still, Dorrell brought Taylor.
“(I brought him) just because of what he’s done and
what he’s meant to this team,” Dorrell said. “All
the way through summer, he impressed us just getting himself ready
to go in training camp (after the injury). We knew this was a
season where we had to demonstrate our toughness and our
perseverance, and he was the best example of that.”
The relationship between coach and player might be seen as an
unexpected one.
When Taylor was coming out of high school in Arizona, he was
recruited by both USC under Paul Hackett and UCLA under Bob Toledo.
At one point in his recruitment, he was fully prepared to become a
Trojan, since an offer from UCLA had not been forthcoming.
Ultimately, a large part of the reason why he waited for a Bruin
offer is because he assumed Hackett would be fired, and he did not
want to go through a coaching change during his time at the
school.
Irony can be painful.
During Taylor’s first year, in which the Bruins went 8-5,
Toledo was fired for various problems surrounding the program, as
well as his recent inability to beat USC. Taylor, who had hoped to
play for Toledo his entire career, did not know what to make of
this new situation.
“Paul Hackett was on the chopping blocks, and I
didn’t want to be a part of that,” Taylor said.
“(Toledo) was a good coach. I will always be grateful to him
and that whole coaching staff because they brought me in.
“It was mixed feelings (when he was fired). I was shocked,
but I wasn’t shocked. There were a lot of disciplinary issues
and late-season collapses. We could kind of sense it, but we were
an 8-5 team. 8-5 coaches don’t normally get fired. It was
something I didn’t want to be a part of. I didn’t want
to be part of a firing.”
Ultimately, however, Taylor bought in to Dorrell’s
program. After starting three games as a true freshman under
Toledo, he started two games as a sophomore and then had a breakout
2004 season, starting 11 of 12 games.
He came into the 2005 season as the No. 1 receiver, and he knew
the team was poised for a breakout year. In 2003, the Bruins had a
dominant defense but an almost nonexistent offense. In 2004, both
units were mostly average.
Coming into his senior season, he knew the offense was finally
ready to start clicking behind the senior leadership of not only
himself, but of quarterback Drew Olson, tight end Marcedes Lewis,
as well as the explosive playmaking ability of junior running back
Maurice Drew.
But once again, he was struck by the unexpected.
In the third game of the season, Taylor sustained a horrific
injury that tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left
knee.
The injury left him out for the year. He watched from the
sidelines when he wasn’t in surgery as the year of offensive
culmination took place. Drew proved himself as one of the most
explosive players in college football. Lewis showed why most
considered him the top tight end in the country coming out of high
school. And Olson had the best year from a UCLA quarterback since
the Cade McNown years as Olson led the Bruins to a 10-2 record.
And all the while, Taylor was forced to sit and watch as his
classmates shined and then graduated.
“It was devastating,” Taylor said. “All of us
growing up together with our struggles in the offense with all of
the changes. We were finally in a year where nothing changed.
Everyone was getting it down. All the guys that we worked so hard
for, the last guys of Toledo and that first class of the Dorrell
era, we all got it together. We knew it was going to be a special
year.
“I worked so hard and that was truly my class. I wanted to
be right there with them. It was devastating, but it was a blessing
in disguise.”
This year, Taylor was thrust into a situation where he had to be
the senior leader for the second year in a row among a class of
players he did not grow with in the program. His classmates were
gone. His teammates were now mostly guys who were years younger
than him. He earned the nicknames “grandpa” and
“old man.”
“Everyone gives him stuff about him playing on coach
Dorrell’s team back when coach Dorrell was playing,”
fullback Michael Pitre said. “He’s been here, what, six
years?
“Junior’s a good guy. He’s been through a lot
here. He did whatever it took to get ready for this season and to
help this team try to win. Looking at him, if he can get back from
a knee injury like that, then we can at least go out there and play
hard every week.”
Despite the awkwardness of coming back from a injury to be a
senior leader, Taylor has embraced the leadership role. And he has
embraced the idea of getting to know a group of players he never
really hung around with before.
“I have really enjoyed just being around and getting to
know these guys better,” Taylor said. “I knew them and
hung around with them (before), but I was with my class. I worked
hard to get back, so I’ve just been trying to have
fun.”
The other problem with sitting out the majority of his fourth
year was being forced to watch as his teammates lost to USC for the
seventh time in a row.
That, more than anything, is what drives Taylor at this point.
Of the goals he had upon entering UCLA, the only two left are
winning a Pac-10 title and beating USC. The Bruins cannot win the
title this year, but they will play USC on Saturday.
“We can still go out on a great note,” Taylor said.
“We’ve got a great opportunity on Saturday. We can go
out and beat ‘SC. No class (since I’ve been here) has
done that. To me, it would make it a greater success than last
season.”
If the Bruins by chance do not beat ‘SC on Saturday, these
five years at UCLA will not be a disappointment for Taylor. He has
learned too much, met too many people, and simply had too many good
experiences for it to make or break his college experience.
“My time here was great,” Taylor said.
“I’ve met so many people here who’ve touched my
life. Things don’t always go the way you want them. I was
hoping to come here and be playing for a Pac-10 title. But
sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned.
“I’ve gotten to do some great things. I got to play
at Notre Dame. I enjoyed my time here,” Taylor said.
Taylor actually finished his degree last spring, walking with
such former Bruin luminaries as Cade McNown and Tracy Murray in the
UCLA Department of History graduation. He credits many with his
ability to succeed as a student and as a player, including the
training staff, his coaches, the athletic department, academic
adviser Ed Kezirian and athletic counselor Mike Casillas.
All in all, he is ready to begin his life outside of college,
whatever that ends up entailing.
“I want to obviously pursue the draft and see how that
goes,” Taylor said.
“(If that doesn’t work out), I want to pursue my
business life. I want to become a CEO, own a couple of businesses;
do a little bit of stuff like that. Make sure I can come back and
support the school and be a great booster. I want to be at the
games and enjoy myself.
“I’m a Bruin for life,” Taylor said.
But he knows that later on, when he looks back on his time here,
he’s going to want to see a win against ‘SC. He’s
going to want to see a UCLA victory over ‘SC when the Trojans
were at their peak. He’s going to want to see the win that
stopped USC’s winning streak one win before it tied
UCLA’s longest streak at eight.
That would simply be the perfect ending for Taylor.
“It’s so important to me,” Taylor said.
“It’s so important to the school. I’m tired of
it. I’m tired of hearing about ‘SC, and how
they’re king of the world. I came here to beat them and have
a great rivalry game every year. I feel people don’t respect
the rivalry anymore and that the game doesn’t matter. It
didn’t used to be like that. We have to stop them from
getting to eight.
“That’ll be the final token in the piggy
bank.”