Impressive kid.
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Four-star running back A.J. Taylor from Kansas City had a chance to make his first visit to Iowa City this past weekend and came impressed with everything the Hawkeyes have to offer. We caught up with the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Kansas City native to talk about the trip, where the Hawkeyes stand in his recruiting, what he is looking at as he gets ready to make a decision this summer, and much more.
Q: Can you kind of take me through your weekend at Iowa and what all you got to see and do?
TAYLOR: Yeah. We started on Friday evening and they first took us up to the press box at the stadium and it was crazy. We got to take a picture with the cheerleaders and take a picture with the mascot. Then I got to meet all the coaches and got signed in and everything. The view from where we were, we were so high up we could see the whole stadium and the medical building that Coach Ferentz helped build, so all of that was exciting and fun. It was very welcoming. I felt very welcomed my whole time there.
Then, we went and ate Buffalo Wild Wings, which was very good, and I got to spend time with one of the players, James Daniels. I got to spend some time with him until about 11 PM. We just hung out and went bowling with some of the other players and recruits. So that was Friday. It was pretty packed and fun. I learned a lot about the school.
Then, on Saturday, we got to tour the football facility, which was unbelievable. It was something else. I told everybody back home that Iowa is not a place that you should sleep. It’s a spot that you’ve got to check out. If you’re thinking about Iowa, you’ve got to check it out because it’s unbelievable what they’ve got there. We got to see the weight room and all the facilities and then got to take a little tour around campus, which was very nice.
Those are basically the two days and then we finished Saturday up with a little meeting with Coach Kennedy, Coach White, and Coach Ferentz.
Q: What did the coaches say? What was their message to you on the visit?
TAYLOR: Coach White, the running backs coach, was basically telling me, “We’ve got running backs that can do their own unique things, but we’re looking for a guy that can do it all and we really want you to be that guy. We want you to be our do it all guy.”
Then Coach Kennedy was saying the same kind of thing. He told me that I remind him of Jamaal Charles because he coached Jamaal Charles (at Texas) along with Coach Davis. He told me that and said, “We need that guy that can do it all and be that kind of game changer.” He said I could be that franchise type of player that they’re looking for. I thought that was really neat and he’s a really good guy.
Then Coach Ferentz was just telling me more about it and said, “We’ve been looking for that guy because if we get that guy that can do it all, defenses won’t know what we’re doing and we can add a little bit more variety to what we do.” Then he talked about trying to get some more game changers to really help move the Iowa program forward. I really thought that was unique. I could see how much they valued me and I really valued my time with them.
Q: Being from Kansas City, what did you think of the Jamaal Charles comparison?
TAYLOR: Oh, I thought that was great. I loved it. Once they were telling me they coached at Texas and started talking about someone I reminded them of, I was thinking that could be Jamaal Charles because he played for Texas. Then they said it was him, so it was pretty cool. I thought that was nice.
Q: That was your first visit to Iowa. Leaving there on Saturday, what was kind of your overall first impression?
TAYLOR: My first impression, I thought it was great. Like if I had one word to describe it, it would be great. Everything about it, from the coaches, the players, the facilities, the program, I thought that everything was unbelievable. It was nice. It’s a nice campus and a nice college. I liked it.
Q: Where does Iowa kind of sit on your list right now?
TAYLOR: Well, I mean, I wouldn’t know where they sit, but I’ll tell you they’re very high up, let’s just say that. They moved up on the list, I promise you that.
Q: But right now you haven’t narrowed it down to a top three or top five yet have you?
TAYLOR: Not yet.
Q: What’s next for you? Is it narrowing it down or just making your decision?
TAYLOR: What I’m going to do next is just make the decision. What we’re doing is doing research on all of the colleges and seeing what we like and what we don’t like. Then I’m going to make my decision on August 1st at my old school. That will be the time when I’ll just pick it. I want to pick it out of all of them. I won’t really do the narrowing down or anything because I feel like at the end of the day you’re only going to pick one, so there’s no need to narrow it down. If you narrow it down, you kind of have an idea of where you’re going. I want to just do all the research I can on all the colleges that I like and then decide.
Q: Did you say that announcement will be at your old school?
TAYLOR: Yeah, I’m going to announce it at my old school, at St. Regis.
Q: Are there more visits to take before then?
TAYLOR: Yeah, we are going to go to check out KU and then we’ll be about done. If we can, we’re definitely going to try to go to Maryland, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Q: What are the main factors going to be when you go to make that decision? What are the big things you are looking at?
TAYLOR: The biggest things that I’m looking would probably be the atmosphere of the campus itself, the atmosphere of the football team and how I feel when I’m with the coaches and the players, and then the program itself. Is it a strong program or could I potentially make it a strong program? I’ll definitely look at how the coaches are and if they have a good vibe to them or not. Also, I’d definitely like to at least talk to one player and see what he thinks about it. Then definitely the academic strength of the college too. I want to look at that because if I don’t make it in football, I want to go far in my career.
Q: Is the list of schools you are still looking at right now just your list of offers?
TAYLOR: Yes, my list of offers.
Currently, Taylor holds offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Maryland, Vanderbilt, Tulsa, Harvard, and Yale.
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Four-star running back A.J. Taylor from Kansas City had a chance to make his first visit to Iowa City this past weekend and came impressed with everything the Hawkeyes have to offer. We caught up with the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Kansas City native to talk about the trip, where the Hawkeyes stand in his recruiting, what he is looking at as he gets ready to make a decision this summer, and much more.
Q: Can you kind of take me through your weekend at Iowa and what all you got to see and do?
TAYLOR: Yeah. We started on Friday evening and they first took us up to the press box at the stadium and it was crazy. We got to take a picture with the cheerleaders and take a picture with the mascot. Then I got to meet all the coaches and got signed in and everything. The view from where we were, we were so high up we could see the whole stadium and the medical building that Coach Ferentz helped build, so all of that was exciting and fun. It was very welcoming. I felt very welcomed my whole time there.
Then, we went and ate Buffalo Wild Wings, which was very good, and I got to spend time with one of the players, James Daniels. I got to spend some time with him until about 11 PM. We just hung out and went bowling with some of the other players and recruits. So that was Friday. It was pretty packed and fun. I learned a lot about the school.
Then, on Saturday, we got to tour the football facility, which was unbelievable. It was something else. I told everybody back home that Iowa is not a place that you should sleep. It’s a spot that you’ve got to check out. If you’re thinking about Iowa, you’ve got to check it out because it’s unbelievable what they’ve got there. We got to see the weight room and all the facilities and then got to take a little tour around campus, which was very nice.
Those are basically the two days and then we finished Saturday up with a little meeting with Coach Kennedy, Coach White, and Coach Ferentz.
Q: What did the coaches say? What was their message to you on the visit?
TAYLOR: Coach White, the running backs coach, was basically telling me, “We’ve got running backs that can do their own unique things, but we’re looking for a guy that can do it all and we really want you to be that guy. We want you to be our do it all guy.”
Then Coach Kennedy was saying the same kind of thing. He told me that I remind him of Jamaal Charles because he coached Jamaal Charles (at Texas) along with Coach Davis. He told me that and said, “We need that guy that can do it all and be that kind of game changer.” He said I could be that franchise type of player that they’re looking for. I thought that was really neat and he’s a really good guy.
Then Coach Ferentz was just telling me more about it and said, “We’ve been looking for that guy because if we get that guy that can do it all, defenses won’t know what we’re doing and we can add a little bit more variety to what we do.” Then he talked about trying to get some more game changers to really help move the Iowa program forward. I really thought that was unique. I could see how much they valued me and I really valued my time with them.
Q: Being from Kansas City, what did you think of the Jamaal Charles comparison?
TAYLOR: Oh, I thought that was great. I loved it. Once they were telling me they coached at Texas and started talking about someone I reminded them of, I was thinking that could be Jamaal Charles because he played for Texas. Then they said it was him, so it was pretty cool. I thought that was nice.
Q: That was your first visit to Iowa. Leaving there on Saturday, what was kind of your overall first impression?
TAYLOR: My first impression, I thought it was great. Like if I had one word to describe it, it would be great. Everything about it, from the coaches, the players, the facilities, the program, I thought that everything was unbelievable. It was nice. It’s a nice campus and a nice college. I liked it.
Q: Where does Iowa kind of sit on your list right now?
TAYLOR: Well, I mean, I wouldn’t know where they sit, but I’ll tell you they’re very high up, let’s just say that. They moved up on the list, I promise you that.
Q: But right now you haven’t narrowed it down to a top three or top five yet have you?
TAYLOR: Not yet.
Q: What’s next for you? Is it narrowing it down or just making your decision?
TAYLOR: What I’m going to do next is just make the decision. What we’re doing is doing research on all of the colleges and seeing what we like and what we don’t like. Then I’m going to make my decision on August 1st at my old school. That will be the time when I’ll just pick it. I want to pick it out of all of them. I won’t really do the narrowing down or anything because I feel like at the end of the day you’re only going to pick one, so there’s no need to narrow it down. If you narrow it down, you kind of have an idea of where you’re going. I want to just do all the research I can on all the colleges that I like and then decide.
Q: Did you say that announcement will be at your old school?
TAYLOR: Yeah, I’m going to announce it at my old school, at St. Regis.
Q: Are there more visits to take before then?
TAYLOR: Yeah, we are going to go to check out KU and then we’ll be about done. If we can, we’re definitely going to try to go to Maryland, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Q: What are the main factors going to be when you go to make that decision? What are the big things you are looking at?
TAYLOR: The biggest things that I’m looking would probably be the atmosphere of the campus itself, the atmosphere of the football team and how I feel when I’m with the coaches and the players, and then the program itself. Is it a strong program or could I potentially make it a strong program? I’ll definitely look at how the coaches are and if they have a good vibe to them or not. Also, I’d definitely like to at least talk to one player and see what he thinks about it. Then definitely the academic strength of the college too. I want to look at that because if I don’t make it in football, I want to go far in my career.
Q: Is the list of schools you are still looking at right now just your list of offers?
TAYLOR: Yes, my list of offers.
Currently, Taylor holds offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Maryland, Vanderbilt, Tulsa, Harvard, and Yale.
