Rising Stars in 2024 | Darius Taylor

we just got finished talking about Maroon let's get into a different kind of maroon instead of going south we're going to go North to Minnesota we're going to talk about Darius Taylor now let's get this out of the way too that is a that's a crowded running back room up there in Minnesota it's there's some new looks up there but guess what I mean Darius Taylor how many games was he over like 200 yards last year was it three games well it was so he he played he played in six games he finished four from start to finish right and he averaged 184 in all of those games that is ridiculous 121 carries for 737 in just those four games it's not just volume either like it is volume like the yard the per yard is volume but like the reality is like he was effective like he was very good those other running backs in that back field were not Ry Williams was not effective you had sha Tyler not effective terrible so so how how was it that this true freshman running back fourstar highly rated player in terms of Minnesota standards he how does this guy come in and and he was just immediately a way better even Zack Evans he was way better than Zack Evans I thought so it's like how is he that effective and PJ Fleck it's a big deal to play running back for him and everyone knows that right take care of the football and do what you got to do like uh he doesn't necessarily trust everyone to do that right and Darius Taylor man awesome he did awesome and they've brought in SE benur uh in that running back room and uh who else are they bringing that back to Marcus major Marcus major Oklahoma two incoming true freshman as well but those guys are probably red shirt although oju I got to figure that out but he's he's turned out to be a stud obviously in spring so far but yeah to me what what makes him a breakout guy is the production 184 yards per game is not going to last over 12 games but if he is healthy which the plan is for him to be healthy like he's going to be a guy in the Big 10 he was on Pace to be big 10 running back of the year in that type of era you know first second team Big 10 in a very very loaded Big 10 running back room right and and he's a guy true sophomore coming out of Michigan a year ago seventh player in Michigan he was guy yeah he was only 350th in the country but from Minnesota he was one of our highest rated recruit and he was the gem in terms of they fought tooth nail to keep him committ they identified him early inste of Michigan he actually played wide receiver up until his halfway through his junior year of college of high school football until he B switch running back so that's why he was a little bit delayed in terms of his actual recruitment didn't take off until after senior year when he balled out and that's reflection on his ranking like he probably should have been rated higher if he had played running back all those four years and that that was reflected when teams like Notre Dame and Michigan came crawling not crawling came in the last yeah they were begging begging they were at the knees of Minnesota in recr battle it wasn't us but and and let me tell you there were a lot of fans me included H maybe not me included there were a lot of fans that were okay darus Taylor's gone some team will nil him away from us but hey the boosters ponied up and they kept him and and he's happy to be a gopher I think he really loves it and why would he not why would he leave right because he has all this volume and and production but I also think that the next step he can take is is in that receiving room which we saw a little bit against Iowa we saw it in certain games saw in high school obviously as a receiver they want to keep him healthy they want to rotate more running backs but also use him out of the back field you're bringing in Max brosmer you've got Daniel Jackson a lot of fun things happening on this Minnesota offense right that also returns five major contributors on that o line that graduated one player a senior offense of Center for them and they bring back a couple guys that can really play center as well so yeah it's a run heavy offense when healthy he was unbelievable there there's no question that he should be on this roster if you're college football fantasy fan right you understand that he has immense value going in the first and second rounds of some mock drafts already he's a guy that is just awesome and if he blows up or if he contines to stay healthy really it's it's not if it's just it's not if he breaks out it's more like if he stays healthy then he will break out and that over under a four and a half will probably hit in favor of Minnesota so yeah I I love it I I love it yeah and SE Bena is an a thousand yard rusher in his own right major uh Marcus M probably could have gone to a different couple other schools I think there are promised a chance to compete for this running back spot but like when I look at bringing in SE bangura and Marcus major it that was that was dep that was to spell Darius Taylor of the absolute abysmal workload that he would have had to endure I mean you saw with uh Muhammad Ibraham I mean that that dude oh my talk about workload I that dude has zero tread left on his tires Minnesota literally drove him to the ground and I think they're trying to just avoid that somewhat in this instance so can you blame him yeah you can't really blame him right oh no well first you saw what happened and they they even talked about if you look at that bulll game right uh of the quick and Lane bow I mean he had almost 40 carries he had over 200 yard I mean our we were starting our backup quarterback that was an option quarterback in high school like we weren't going to throw the football we were playing bowl and green you had to just run the football and darus tayor did it and they understood PJ [ __ ] I'm like hey you're probably gonna have 30 40 carries in this game and he's like okay it's the last game of the year you might as well rest up the next couple months and really attack Spring football and that was it but yeah you like you mentioned they're bringing in some depth pieces because they got down to their sixth string running back last year who was a walk on Jordan nubin who actually ran the ball well in one game but he was the only running back that was healthy that was not fumbling every snap and so they ran him like 35 times and then he got hurt again or he got worn down and was not the same the rest of the year so they're trying to avoid that credit to Minnesota for actually being able to build depth at a position of need in their standards in their offense so we'll see but dar's Taylor you watch him play he's such good vision for a true freshman his contact balance is incredible right is run after is is run after catch right well run after contact is just incred I I don't know there's not enough good things to say about how he runs the football and and his agility his Breakaway speeds at times well that I want you to I want you to pin this clip when I say like when I watch him play and he does when I say he does everything well I mean he does everything well right and you were just mentioning it second round draft pick in the NFL draft and two years that's not crazy I'mma pin it right now what he's a un you said unbelievable Runner we already talked about that unbelievable receiver he's a receiver in high school how about how about in pass Pro he Bryce Williams was the only person that like that was his only jobs that's what it was supposed to be it was supposed to be don't fumble and play pass Pro Downs uh Darius Taylor quickly well BR Williams got hurt but Darius Taylor was better in pass Pro than Bryce Williams the stats back it up the film backs up fresh I mean the PFF grades back it up like in pass bro darus Taylor is unreal this is a legitimate legitimate not just power five player this a power five star I I think he is that good at his position this was an absolute gem that Minnesota found in that recruiting class and like you said glad that we get some uh collectives pointing up because college football is better when players like Darius Taylor are playing on teams like Minnesota