Steve Taylor (Canadian football)

Steve Taylor (born January 7, 1967) was an American football quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League. Taylor had signed a four-year contract with the Edmonton Eskimos just one month after finishing his senior season with the University of Nebraska. The dual threat QB was selected in the 12th round by the NFL's Indianapolis Colts during April 1989, but Taylor was already committed to playing in the CFL.^[1]

Taylor played for four different CFL teams including the Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Ottawa Rough Riders which began in the summer of 1989. He spent his entire career of eight seasons as a backup playing behind notable CFL starters such as Tracy Ham and Doug Flutie. His career passing statistics included 4,947 yards passing with 35 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. He completed 366-of-652 pass attempts during his CFL career.

Collegiate career

Taylor's college football career was quite different. The 6-foot, 205-pound ^[2] option quarterback was the perfect fit for Head Coach Dr. Tom Osborne's vaunted option offense. Taylor was 31-6 with a conference championship (Big Eight Champions - 1988) as the starter for Nebraska from 1986 to 1988.^[3] His freshman season in 1985 included Taylor coming off the bench to help Nebraska nearly defeat Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl—a game the Wolverines won, 27-23.^[4]

Taylor passed for 2,815 yards and rushed for 2,125 yards in a tailback predicated option offense that featured such excellent Husker runningbacks as Keith "End Zone" Jones, Doug Dubose, Tom Rathman and Ken Clark. He recorded 32 rushing touchdowns and 30 touchdown passes.

Taylor's best single season came as a senior in 1988 when he rushed 157 times for 826 yards and completed 72-of-151 passing attempts for 1,067 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He had 13 rushing touchdowns with a longest run of 60 yards as his Husker team completed an 11-2 season ranked No. 10 nationally in the AP poll.^[5]

One of Taylor's most memorable moments came on September 12, 1987 in a 42-33 win over nationally ranked No. 9 UCLA and its talented quarterback, Troy Aikman. Taylor threw for a school record five touchdown passes including a 48-yard scoring toss to wide receiver Rod Smith and two approximate 35 yard touchdown passes to tight end Todd Millikan. Taylor was 10-of-15 passing for 217 yards without an interception and had 12 rushes for 27 yards.^[6]

Another such moment came when Nebraska played the famous former Detroit Lions runningback, Barry Sanders, and his Oklahoma State team that went 10-2 that season. On October 15, 1988, Taylor and Nebraska outscored 11th-ranked Oklahoma State, 63-42, in a shootout in Lincoln, Nebraska. Taylor overcame Sanders' 189 yard rushing performance with a solid performance of his own that included the Nebraska signal caller rushing 11 times for 140 yards while completing 6-of-11 passes for 92 yards. Taylor threw an 11-yard touchdown pass and scored on rushes of 60, 43, and nine yards in a game that included over 1,000 yards of total offense by the two teams combined.^[7]

Statistics

Personal life

Taylor is now a real estate sales associate with Lincoln First Realty in Lincoln, Nebraska where he, his wife, and their three daughters currently reside.

References

Additional sources

• huskerpedia.com/games/1988/07oklahomastate.html