Huskers To Honor Aaron Taylor on Saturday

Had he been taller than 6 feet, 1 inch, Aaron Taylor may not have flourished in one of the most successful, dominant runs in college football history.

Oh, sure, he may have still proven himself somewhere else as a dominant lineman and earned All-American honors. Perhaps he still wins an Outland Trophy, too.

But does he enter the College Football Hall of Fame, as Taylor will in December, without helping a team win three national championships in four season and compile a remarkable 49-2 record in that span?

That’s what Taylor and the Nebraska football team did from 1994-97, all because Nebraska coaches nabbed Taylor from the talent-laden state of Texas when most other household names in college football wouldn’t consider him.

Taylor wasn’t tall enough, they said.

Yet when the late Dan Young, an assistant coach for Nebraska, was eyeing a center at a high school in Texas, that player’s coach told Young he needed to head to Wichita Falls, where’d he find the best center he’d ever want in Taylor.

To that point, Taylor had an offer from New Mexico State and interest from a few other smaller Division I-A schools. Then the late Milt Tenopir, who teamed with Young to coach Nebraska’s vaunted offensive line, began recruiting Taylor.

Fast-forward to Saturday, when the University of Nebraska and The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will jointly honor Taylor with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute during the Huskers’ 2:30 p.m. game against Minnesota.

Taylor, who will be formally inducted on Dec. 4 in New York, becomes the 18th Nebraska player to earn induction into the College Hall of Fame and gives Nebraska 24 overall members, including six coaches. Taylor is the first Husker player inducted since Trev Alberts in 2015, and will be the sixth Husker inducted in the past 12 seasons, joining Alberts, Tommie Frazier (2013), Will Shields (2011), Grant Wistrom (2009) and Mike Rozier (2006).

Taylor is among 13 inductees in the 2018 class, including 10 first-team All-American players.

“There’s not many guys in the College Football Hall of Fame, and it’s such an honor and humbling and man, it’s just a really, really cool feeling, almost a surreal feeling,” Taylor said. “It’s a different fraternity. I don’t really know how to explain it. It feels good. It feels really good, and it feels like it almost validates all the sacrifices that myself and many others made to get to this point.”

Taylor, who had his No. 67 jersey retired in 1998, is the only Nebraska player in history to earn All-America honors at two different positions, and he helped the Huskers to three undefeated, national championship seasons. He won the 1997 Outland Trophy, awarded to the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman.

“Aaron Taylor was a very consistent performer on our offensive lines and was representative of many outstanding linemen that we have had here,” said retired Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, who coached Taylor and retired the same year Taylor played his final season with the Huskers. “Aaron had a great work ethic, possessed strong leadership skills and was a great contributor to several outstanding teams.”

Taylor protected quarterbacks Scott Frost, Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer. He helped open holes for running backs Lawrence Phillips and Ahman Green. That star power helped produce one of the most explosive offensive periods in Nebraska history.

Taylor moved into a starting role as a sophomore in 1995, when he earned third team All-America honors while guiding the Huskers to a 12-0 season and a national title after defeating Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. As a redshirt freshman in 1994, Taylor played in every game while helping the Huskers to a perfect 13-0 national championship season after a win over Miami in the Orange Bowl. 

Taylor started every game of his junior season at center, with the exception of the Orange Bowl win over Virginia Tech, when he started at left guard, as the team finished 11-2 – the only two losses during his four years in Lincoln.

Taylor posted 337 career pancake blocks while leading the Huskers to an impressive 49-2 overall record and a perfect 30-0 conference mark in four years.

“Aaron Taylor capped his impressive career at Nebraska by becoming the only player in school history to earn All-America honors at two different positions,” NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell said. “He was a key leader on three undefeated, national championship Husker teams, and we are thrilled to honor him at Memorial Stadium.”

A seventh-round NFL Draft pick in 1998 by the Indianapolis Colts, Taylor split the season between the Colts and Chicago Bears before retiring from the game. Today, Taylor lives in Omaha and works for Union Pacific Railroad.

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.