Taylor poised to add more offers

North Olmsted, Ohio, defensive tackle John Taylor has been a dominant force on the defensive line for the past two seasons. Now, with his senior season looming, the 6-5, 265-pound Taylor is starting to see his stock on the national recruiting scene rise and according to coach Mike Ptacek, this is just the beginning.

A three-sport star who also participates in basketball and track and field for North Olmsted, Taylor has the ideal combination of skills to be successful at the college level according to Ptacek.

"He's a 6-5, 260 kid and he has zero body fat," Ptacek said. "I think his greatest asset is his speed. Very often you'll find a kid who is 6-5, 260 who's basically limited with his athletic ability and John is far from that. He ran a 4.79 at Wisconsin and numerous 4.8's in the 40.

"I think eventually when he gets into a program where he's just going to commit [to football] I think he will potentially be a 4.5, 4.6 40 kid at that weight."

Taylor built upon a sophomore season in which he registered 86 tackles and four sacks by registering 98 tackles and five sacks as a junior, earning all-state honors. Despite his dominance on the defensive side of the football, though, offense is another option for some teams.

"With a lot of teams running the spread offense and a lot of teams gearing up for those speed rushers off the edge, they feel like he would be a pretty good guy to protect their edge," Ptacek said. "Ohio State is looking at him as a tight end as well. Teams are going back and forth with what they are looking at him at."

Miami (Ohio) was the first school to come through and offer Taylor, but several Big Ten schools are showing considerable interest.

"Right now every Big Ten school has been here," Ptacek reported. "He is regularly talking with Michigan State, he is regularly talking with Ohio State, he is talking with Maryland all the time and he's talking with Illinois.

"He went to a basketball game at Purdue, he went to a basketball game at Ohio State and last year he went on the Ted Ginn Bus Tour, so he visited most of the MAC schools on that tour and most of the Big Ten schools. He is in track and field right now, so I don't think he will be going to any spring games.

With visits to schools being pushed back by his commitments to track, a decision for Taylor is still some time off in the future.

"John's very open-minded and I think he's waiting for a school to fall in love with. He's very interested in the schools that are interested in him right now," Ptacek said. "He has a twin sister and a great family and I think he would like to stay close to home, but we don't want to limit where he can go. He just wants to find the best fit for him."