J.J. Taylor is used to it by now. He brushes off the pregame taunts — “Why is the water boy suited up?” — and revels in the postgame silence.
“Those people that were talking,” Taylor said, “literally have nothing to say when I walk past them after.”
Taylor has been dealing with slights about his height for his entire athletic career. They provide motivational fuel for a player who invariably produces above and beyond what his measurables suggest he should be capable of in a big man’s game.
“You can comment on my size, but then also you gotta look back at everything that I’ve been doing with my size,” said Taylor, the powerful, pint-sized running back who’s representing the Arizona Wildcats at this week’s NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
“My size brings a lot of determination and ambition to my game. A lot of people like to say my size is a downfall. But I think my size is what drives me.”
The combine signals the unofficial start of draft season. It’s the time of year when analysts and anonymous scouts pick apart prospects, typically highlighting their flaws more than their strengths.
Taylor is the shortest player in attendance. He checked in at 5 feet 5¼ inches, 185 pounds. His height, or lack thereof, required officials to take an unusual measure Tuesday: They “had to find a tape measure and go from the ground up” to accurately record Taylor’s height, according to Yahoo NFL reporter Charles Robinson.
Darren Sproles, to whom Taylor often is compared, endured a similar experience in 2005. Officially listed at 5-6, Sproles became a fourth-round pick of the San Diego Chargers and a dynamic runner, receiver and returner. He recently announced his retirement after a 15-year career.
Plenty of height-challenged tailbacks have succeeded in the NFL. Taylor’s favorite player, all-time great Barry Sanders, was listed at 5-8. Maurice Jones-Drew played at 5-7.
Current backs such as Devonta Freeman, Phillip Lindsay, Devin Singletary and Tarik Cohen are all 5-8 or shorter. They have thrived in a league that has become more spread out and less reliant on between-the-tackles running.
Which isn’t to say Taylor is a sure thing, or that his size won’t be used against him. The weaknesses listed in Taylor’s NFL.com scouting report — which projects him as an undrafted free agent — include “needs accurate throws due to his size” and “too small to handle pass protection.” Anyone who watched Taylor at Arizona knows the latter doesn’t apply.
Joseph Taylor has watched J.J. all his life. The man for whom J.J. is named believes it’s a mistake to underestimate his son.
“If you tell him he can’t do something, he’s going to prove you wrong and show you he can,” Joseph Taylor said. “He’s gonna feed off it.”
‘That wow factor’
J.J., the fourth-oldest of Joseph and Latrese Taylor’s six children, started playing flag football when he was 4 years old. Joseph had to coach for J.J. to be eligible; most of the other kids in the league were 5 or older.
“J.J. has always played up,’” his father said. “A lot of parents were having their kids play down. He was good enough to play with the older kids.”
J.J. participated in multiple sports as a youth in Corona, California, including basketball, gymnastics, roller hockey and track. But he loved football the most — and still does, going so far as to say that life without it would be “kind of meaningless.”
Opposing teams dreaded having to face the Inland Empire Ducks’ star player. Joseph said parents still come up to him and say, “Oh boy — we used to hate when we had to play against you.”
A YouTube clip from Sept. 22, 2011, depicts Taylor trucking a helpless defender. It has more than 18,000 views.
It’s similar to the snippet NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently posted on social media, showing Taylor bowling over a pair of Oregon State defenders this past November. Wrote Jeremiah: “I love Arizona RB J.J. Taylor. He’s listed at 5-6, 185 pounds. He plays angry. I’d want him on my team, and you can find a role for him on special teams too. So fun to watch.”
Latrese Taylor said J.J. “always had that wow factor” from the time he was a Little Leaguer. Joseph said fans who had no affiliation with either team would attend J.J.’s games. “We just came to watch No. 21,” they’d say.
One time, J.J.’s parents recalled, an opposing player sought him out after a game. The kid was shocked that such a formidable player came in such a compact package. He figured J.J. would be “a giant.”
Genetically, in at least that one respect, J.J. Taylor just happened to get the, uh, short end of the stick. His mother is about the same height he is. His father is 5-10. One of their four sons, Andrey, is 6-5. Their youngest, Javon, is 5-9. He’s 13 years old.
Joseph, who played running back in high school in Detroit, never wanted to be taller than he was.
“All I remember is that big running backs used to get bad knees,” Joseph Taylor said. “The law of football has always been that the lowest man wins.”
J.J. Taylor became a star at Corona Centennial High School. As a senior, he accumulated nearly 2,500 all-purpose yards and scored 44 touchdowns.
Yet Taylor received scholarship offers from only two Power 5 conference programs: Arizona and Washington State. He had no character or academic concerns, so only one explanation made sense.
“I think a lot of teams looked at his height and not him as a player,” Latrese Taylor said.
Taylor committed to Arizona in July 2015 and enrolled a year later.
“At the end,” Joseph Taylor said, “we landed where we were supposed to land.”
From dream to reality
University of Arizona running back J.J. Taylor goes through the warm up drills with the Wildcats on day 6 of their pre-season, Tucson, Ariz., August 1, 2019.
J.J. Taylor was the talk of training camp as a freshman in 2016, and when he got a chance to play, he didn’t disappoint. Taylor rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown in Week 3 against Hawaii and 97 yards and a score against Washington the following Saturday. He missed the final quarter of that game and the rest of the season because of a broken ankle.
Taylor preserved his redshirt and was named Pac-12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2017, when he rushed for 847 yards and scored seven touchdowns. He broke out the following season, ranking second among all FBS players with 175.6 all-purpose yards per game and earning third-team All-America honors.
Taylor wasn’t as productive this past season, when he shared time in a crowded backfield and missed about 2½ games because of a sprained ankle. Taylor also played through plantar fasciitis for most of the second half of the season. It kept him out of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl but isn’t expected to affect him during combine drills. The running backs are scheduled to work out Friday.
Taylor improved in certain ways in 2019. He didn’t fumble a single time after being charged with seven the previous season. He caught a career-high 32 passes. In the nine games he was healthy enough to finish, Taylor averaged 157.2 all-purpose yards.
Although his overall numbers were down, Taylor elected to go pro.
“I just felt like I was ready,” he said. “It was my time to make dreams that I’ve always dreamed of a reality.”
Taylor worked out with several other draft prospects in Orange County, California, before flying to Indianapolis on Monday. His days would start with 6 a.m. wake-up calls. He’d train from 7 a.m. until as late as 3 p.m. six days a week. He loved every minute of it.
“This is a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I may as well embrace it,” Taylor said. “I don’t get this chance again.”
Asked what he hoped to accomplish in Indianapolis, Taylor said: “Allow people to see me. Let my presence be known.”
That statement is about as close as Taylor ever will come to promoting himself. He has deferred credit since he was a youth. But this is the biggest job interview of his life, so he has no choice.
Taylor has done everything possible to prepare. As late as Sunday night, he meditated and got in a light lift. He even made sure he ate right.
Latrese Taylor took note of her son’s intense focus and thought: “This is a true sacrifice.”
She’s excited to watch him work out Friday, but also nervous. And her husband?
“I’m not nervous at all,” he said. “I believe in J.J. This is something I’ve seen coming, honestly, since he was 4 years old.”
Not much has changed since then, really: Undersized J.J. Taylor continues to play up.