During his media availability, Taylor was questioned how he evaluates the 2023 season for himself. “I think obviously last season was a good season,” the tight end replied, “but it was a first season here, first season with Garrett (Greene) and Nicco (Marchiol) at quarterback. Off-season, you can build another camp in the books with them, will be a big thing for me. As far as goals, team goals, Big 12 Championship is the first goal that we want. I think that’s the biggest thing and I’ll do anything the team needs me to do to get to that goal. Personal goal, the John Mackey award, which is the best tight end in the nation. I think that’s kind of in the back of my mind at all times.” Taylor also mentioned his goal of having over 50 catches in a season, but also said that the team’s goals come first.
Taylor was asked why he has yet to appear in the new college football video game, EA College Football 25. “So that was not by choice, I don’t know really what happened in the selection process or anything,” Taylor answered with a smirk. “I opted in or whatever and then I got an email saying that I was not selected, so it was not by choice. But, I think our guys are pushing to get it fixed and hopefully within (the) next roster update, I’ll be in.” He also mentioned that he’s received that question quite a bit.
Back to the John Mackey Award, Taylor appeared on the watch list for potential winners. He was asked how it felt to see his name amongst some of the best tight ends in college football. “It’s good news to hear that I’m on the watch list,” Taylor responded. “Now that you got the watch list, it’s down to what I can do on the field, how I perform week in and week out, and I know that having that’s just a bigger target on my back. But, that just makes you raise your play and week in and week out you got to be at your best, and to be able to be the best tight end of the nation you got to be the best every week. So I think that’s kind of the mindset going in.”
Later, Taylor was asked about the year to year differences he’s seen under head coach Neal Brown. “I built a lot of trust with him and he’s obviously built his trust with me,” he remarked. “So we can have open conversations and I can ask him questions that maybe I wasn’t asking last year. For example, why I’m not getting the ball, just things like that. Not anything greedy but just simple questions. I have the respect for him and he has the respect for me that we can have an open conversation and truly get to the bottom of something. Like I said, he just trust me a little more. I hope that he calls more plays to get me that ball. I mean, that’s out of my hands, but I always just try to do what I can within the play. Just do my job and then whatever play is called is called, and if it’s for me then great, I’ll go make a play, and if not I’ll do my best to get someone else open or make the block to spring the big run.”
You can watch the entire press conference here:
