Odd Regimen Works Well For FAMU's Taylor

Photo: Wesley Taylor, Senior, 5-7/170, 2-Time AP All-American PK/P, Riverview HS (FL)

By SETH ALLISON, Tampa Tribune correspondent

TALLAHASSEE - For a player whose duties deal almost exclusively with kicking, Wesley Taylor's practice regimen might seem a bit odd - he often practices without a ball.

Instead the Florida A&M senior kicker/punter prefers going through the motions of punting and kicking without the football.

"I work on my line-walking, my leg swing," said Taylor, a 2004 graduate of Riverview High. "The way I see it, the more I do it without a ball, it's easier to do with it in my hands."

And he's been right.

Taylor has had as decorated of a career as any special teams player could hope for. A two-time All-America selection during his sophomore and junior years at FAMU, he averaged more than 40 yards per punt during both seasons and he led FAMU in scoring in 2006.

Kicking has always come naturally to Taylor.

"At the age of 2 he began to play soccer and took an immediate liking to it," said Taylor's father, Jim. "He was always one who liked to play outside, always outside kicking a ball. I tried to get him into golf, but there was too much standing. He wanted to be busy, running all the time, hence soccer."

Playing soccer his entire childhood, Taylor stepped on the football field for the first time as a junior at Riverview, but he never worried about the transition from a circular soccer ball to an oblong football.

"It's all technique, kicking a ball is kicking a ball," Taylor said. "I just keep my head down and follow through."

Despite a successful high school career, Taylor didn't bother with the recruiting process. Coming from a family with a legacy at FAMU dating to 1946 - his father and grandfather also attended FAMU - Taylor already knew what college he was going to attend.

"I told his high school coaches, he's going to FAMU," Jim Taylor said. "No need to waste the recruiter's time and money. Nothing was going to change his mind."

FAMU coach Rubin Carter is happy about that.

Since becoming the Rattlers' head coach just before the 2005 season, Carter has put a strong emphasis on special teams play and appreciates Taylor's contributions. He's given Taylor a number of nicknames such as "Mr. Clutch" and "Mr. Consistency."

"I don't know if I'd taken the job if Wesley Taylor wasn't here," Carter said. "He's been an integral part of our program to win close games for us during my tenure. You rarely find a player of that caliber who can play both punter and kicker."

Even with his talent for kicking, Taylor has struggled at times.

During the 2005 season, he went through an uncharacteristic drought, missing six field goals in a row, including an 0-for-4 performance against Hampton. After missing his first attempt the following week against Bethune-Cookman, the sixth miss, Carter approached him on the sidelines.

"I told him 'I'm going to keep sending you out there, I'm depending on you to make the next one. So you might as well start making them,'" Carter said.

Taylor made the rest of his field goals, including one to send the game into overtime, and another in overtime to win it.

Before his sophomore season in 2005, Taylor began to train with a private kicking coach, Louie Aguiar, a former kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers. He changed Wesley's entire kicking form and the results showed immediately.

"That year, 2005, my goal going into the season was to be named All-MEAC," Taylor said. "But I went out every day and just practiced, practiced, practiced and when I was named All-American I was just so honored. It was a dream come true."