WR JaBryce Taylor commits to SMU

[PonyPride]

When a player gets a chance to follow a family member from high school to college, the older family member often gets some of the credit for helping in the decision-making process.

Such was not the case for Lufkin wide receiver JaBryce Taylor (6-2, 186, 4.56), who this week became the fifth player to commit to SMU’s 2013 recruiting class. The cousin of former SMU receiver Jay Taylor, JaBryce Taylor said his cousin applied no pressure on him to follow in his footsteps.

“We didn’t even know we were related until recently,” JaBryce Taylor said. “He came in to my job (at a grocery store) and we started talking a little bit and figured out we were related.

“He didn’t know that I was thinking about SMU, but he started asking about who was talking to me, who was interested. I had been up there to visit the campus — last year with (teammates) Tommy Mark and Jamarcus Russell, and again this spring on SMU’s Junior Day — and when he started talking about SMU, he said a lot of the same things I was thinking. He talked about how peaceful the campus was, how much emphasis they put on you academics, as well as being a good football player.”

Taylor, who also reports scholarship offers from Louisiana Tech and UT-San Antonio, said he caught 40 passes for 492 yards as a junior, when the offense was geared largely around Russell’s running ability.

A versatile athlete who averaged about 20 points per game as a shooting guard on the LHS basketball team, Taylor also took some snaps at quarterback this spring.

“During the season, they use me at outside receiver,” he said. “I played some quarterback for the first two weeks of spring ball, but that was just until our regular quarterback got back from baseball. I’m back at receiver now … although the coaches said they might run some kind of Wildcat package this year, so they said they might have me back there for that.”

Taylor said he learned from SMU defensive line coach Bert Hill that the SMU coaches were more interested in him than he originally realized.

“My sophomore year (2010), I guess they were already looking at me,” Taylor said. “Coach Hill had come down and watched one of our practices, and he was talking to Tommy Mark and JaMarcus. But when I went up there (to SMU) for Junior Day, (Hill) was like, ‘you probably never imagined that all those times I came down there, we were looking at you the whole time, too.’ He said they were really looking at me, and he wanted me to come down and visit.”

Taylor, who says he is "strongly committed to SMU and done looking," and his parents made the trek back from Lufkin to Dallas for SMU’s Junior Day, and said they came away as impressed as he was.

“My mom and dad went up there with me to Junior Day, and they liked it as much as I did,” Taylor said. “They were mostly worried about how the academic part was going to happen. That’s what caught my mom and dad’s attention, how strong they were at SMU about making sure I graduate.”

[HorsePower]

Welcome to the Hilltop!
You have made a great decision, on and off the field.

[SMU 86]

Welcome JaBryce.

[Buddha]

Can't have too many versatile athletes with size and speed.
Welcome to the Hilltop!

[Ikus]

Can't have too many versatile athletes with size and speed.
Welcome to the Hilltop!

This ^^

[SMUFan]

Welcome to the Mustang family!

[Stallion]

the best track times I've found on him are unremarkable finishes of 6th and 7th in the 300 Hurdles this year at your average high school track meet. Apparently runs a relay but I haven't seen any numbers. He was Sophmore of the Year in a competitive district-that's usually a pretty good sign

[giacfsp]

A big WR who runs in the 4.5s and had 40 catches in a run-first offense?
Welcome aboard.

[Mitch McConnell]

FWIW, he made about a 4-second improvement from his 2011 time in the 300H 45.XX to this year at 41.XX. Maybe he's not explosive enough out of the box. The good thing is that he is doing track.

[ponyscott]

Welcome to Labryce to SMU----as he sounds like a versatile athlete and he averages 20 points a game as well as runs track.

[Dement-ed]

Agreed. If someone is successful in multiple sports, there's some ability there to work with, and someone who seems to take coaching well.
Welcome to SMU, LaBryce!

[BleedingRed+Blue]

Sounds like an outstanding athlete. Welcome!

[Charleston Pony]

another athlete with potential? Who will be next Emmanuel Sanders?

[expony18]

another athlete with potential? Who will be next Emmanuel Sanders?

jeremy johnson