Boise State Week, Vol. 6: Talking with Tyrod Taylor ...

As promised, here’s the full text of a long one-on-one interview with Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor. He was gracious enough to give me some significant time (and candid answers) this summer for The Pilot’s college football preview cover story.

I’m in the middle of traveling to the D.C. area for tomorrow night’s game, so I’ll step aside and let you Tech fans enjoy a deeper look at the former five-star recruit whose orange-and-maroon career will be over in 14 games or less ...

QB TYROD TAYLOR

ON THE HOKIES’ STAFF RECRUITING HIM, IN PART, ON THE BASIS OF THEIR BELIEF THAT HE WAS SORT OF THE MISSING PIECE TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE: “They showed me their trophy case a lot. They did mention it to me, with me being compared to Michael Vick coming out of high school – the Vick brothers both – I guess they saw something in my game that could take them to the next level. They thought I could get them back there, put something in that case. I’ve just tried to fulfill those expectations. Getting to the national championship did come up a lot (in recruiting).”

ON WHETHER HE COULD FEEL THAT COACH FRANK BEAMER WANTED HIM BADLY FOR THAT REASON, THAT HE SAW SOME VICK-LIKE QUALITIES IN HIM: “I think yes, because of the situation I was put into in high school, being put into the fire early, starting as a true freshman for some games and then all the games as a sophomore. I think that just the way I conducted myself – because I actually saw (Tech’s coaches) my 10th-grade year, because we had a big-time recruit (WR Todd Nolen) – I think they just liked my character.”

ON WHEN THE HOKIES STARTED RECRUITING HIM, OFFICIALLY OR OTHERWISE: “You can’t get official documents until you’re a junior. They were showing interest my sophomore year.”

ON HOW CLOSE HE CAME TO NOT PICKING TECH, AND WHERE HE WOULD’VE GONE IF NOT BLACKSBURG: “Florida was my No. 2. I don’t say I was real close to going to Florida because I never took a visit there. I was set to go there, but I had to get myself situated to go to the Elite 11 (a top QB camp in California), so I didn’t have time to get to Florida. I had visited Tech a number of times, knew a lot of people there, so I felt more comfortable at Tech. Florida said I’d have an opportunity to come down there and compete with the guy who was there, which was Tim Tebow – and he had played the year before, had experience. Not to say I shy away from competition, but I just felt more comfortable with the situation at Tech.”

ON WHETHER HE LOOKS BACK AND REGRETS NOT REDSHIRTING AT TECH: “Not at this point now. Maybe early on in my career, feeling sometimes that I was a step behind in those first couple years, I wished I had redshirted. But like coach said, it was better for the team at the time (for him to play). If I can put the team in the best position to win games, I’m all about it.”

ON WHETHER IT’LL BE HARD TO LEAVE BEHIND MOST OF THIS YEAR’S OFFENSE, GIVEN THAT ALMOST EVERYONE BUT HIM WILL BE BACK IN 2011: “I never thought about it that way. That’s something to think about. But we’ve just got to make the best of this year. The only guy that’s going to be leaving with me who came in with my class is Davon Morgan. We’ve been through some ups and downs at Tech, but we are going to make the best of it this year. Can’t worry about the past. Gotta look forward to the future.”

ON FEELING ‘A STEP BEHIND’ FOR HIS FIRST TWO SEASONS, BUT HOW AHEAD OF THE CURVE HE FEELS NOW: “I do understand it all know. I think it does allow you to play at a different level. You’re more comfortable on the field and coaches feel more comfortable letting you call your own plays. I think that’s a credit to the coaches and it shows what I’ve been able to accomplish.”

ON HIS MEMORIES OF THE LSU GAME IN WEEK 2 OF THE 2007, WHEN HIS REDSHIRT WAS PULLED MIDWAY THROUGH THE GAME AND HE WAS TOSSED IN AGAINST THE EVENTUAL NATIONAL CHAMPS: “They told me before the game that there was a chance that I might go in – but a very slight chance. They just told me to be prepared. They told me that before the East Carolina game (in Week 1), too. I was ready to play if I had to, but I didn’t think I was going to get in. I was expecting to redshirt the whole year. They put me in, though, and I made a couple plays. We lost, ultimately, but I made a couple plays that were good.”

ON ALWAYS SAYING IT’S IMPORTANT TO ‘RESPECT EVERYONE, FEAR NO ONE,’ BUT WHETHER HE WAS AT LEAST A LITTLE SCARED TROTTING ONTO THE FIELD AGAINST LSU (IN BATON ROUGE): “Actually, I was never scared. The situation I was put in, it was just, ‘Go out there and ball.’ There wasn’t much anyone was expecting of me at that age, anyway, but that wasn’t what I was thinking. I was just hoping to get out there and make some plays. The first play of the first series, I was nervous, maybe because of the loud noise. But as far as being scared of another football player? I was never that, never have been. They had a violent defense, very physical, but that didn’t scare me. I remember my first pass, I think it was a screen to Josh Morgan, went straight into the ground. I looked at my hand and it looked like water was on my hand. That’s how nervous I was, I guess, but I got dry and ended up taking us down the field and had a little quarterback sneak at the end of the drive (for a TD). That was a little confidence boost.”

ON WHETHER LEADING A TD DRIVE AGAINST ONE OF THE NATION’S TOP DEFENSES, WHEN HE WASN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO PLAY, LET HIM KNOW THAT HE WAS GOOD ENOUGH TO COMPETE AT THIS LEVEL: “It did. I always knew I could play at the next level, but having that happy so early in my career, it validated it. I felt like, ‘It’s time to do your thing now.’ ”

ON THE IDEA OF HIM BEING THE MISSING PIECE TO THE NATIONAL TITLE ... AND HOW EASY IT IS TO FORGET THAT IF NOT FOR THE CRAZY, LAST-MINUTE BOSTON COLLEGE COMEBACK IN 2007, TECH PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PLAYED IN THE BCS TITLE GAME AND ... “I think I could’ve helped. I wasn’t a part of that game. That was the game I was supposed to come back (from an ankle injury) but it was wet on the field and the trainers didn’t want me to risk it. I’ve thought about that a lot. I talked to some guys on the team, wishing I could’ve played that game. I felt that day that I could play, but I think the trainers didn’t want me to hurt myself worse. That’s one game I wish I could have back.”

ON TECH GOING ON TO FINISH THIRD IN THE BCS STANDINGS AND WHETHER THAT SEASON AND THAT GAME SHOWED HIM HOW DELICATE THE BALANCE IS BETWEEN MAKING A NATIONAL TITLE RUN AND NOT: “Yes, it’s a very thin line. Everything has to go your way. Not luck, necessarily, but you have to play solid throughout the season and hope you don’t get big injuries. There’s a lot of talented teams every year in the country, but not every team finishes the season the way they started – with the same people, or just play-wise. Winning it all is hard. There’s a lot of people that get close to it but never accomplish it. That’s something we’ve done in past years, but we need to get over that hump.”

ON HOW BADLY HE WANTS TO BE THE ONE TO TAKE TECH TO THE VERY TOP: “I really want it. Sitting at that dinner the other day, at ACC media day, seeing that (BCS championship) trophy sitting there ... we were wondering, ‘Whose could that be?’ They had our Orange Bowl trophy up there and our Chick-fil-A trophy up there. But was it Florida State’s national championship trophy from ’99, the year they beat us? We had to think about it, because it’s been so long since somebody from the ACC has won it. We’ve never won it here. I really want one.”

ON WHETHER HE TOUCHED THE CRYSTAL FOOTBALL THAT DAY: “I didn’t touch it. Hopefully, there will be time for that. I’ll wait my turn, but that’s what this team is working for.”

ON WHAT HE THINKS OF WHEN HE SEES THAT EMPTY GLASS CASE IN TECH’S TROPHY ROOM: “Something needs to be in there. It’s been empty too long. Hopefully I and my team can put something in there.”

ON WHETHER HE’S GOING TO BE ALL-OUT, HOLDING NOTHING BACK THIS SEASON, SINCE IT’S HIS LAST: “I think you have to play like that every time you step on the field, playing like it’s your last. You can’t worry about injuries. You never know when something can happen. You have to play like every day is your last one – and practice like that, too. Practicing like that allows you to play that way.”

ON MANY FANS BELIEVING THE FINAL DRIVE AGAINST NEBRASKA LAST SEASON FLIPPED A SWITCH FOR TAYLOR AND THE OFFENSE, BUT DOES HE SEE IT THAT WAY? “As an offensive group, that drive did unlock something. Looking back to that (opening) game against Alabama, we did some things good in that game but we did a lot of things to hurt ourselves. The following week, we had a good offensive game against Marshall, then played well against Miami. But Nebraska, we didn’t have a very good offensive day up until that drive. As a group, that drive built confidence to know that we could play a game as bad as we did and still fight at the end and win the game.”

ON HOW MUCH IT HELPED THE REST OF THE SEASON – AND CARRIES INTO THIS ONE – FOR EVERYONE TO SEE CONCRETE PROOF OF THE COACHING CLICHE THAT ‘IT’S NEVER OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER’: “I know people who walked out of the stadium and actually saw that drive on people’s TVs at tailgate parties. That drive carried on through the season, even the last drive before halftime in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The play really is never over. A lot of people don’t believe in that, but our team is one that has a reason to believe in it.”

ON WHETHER THERE IS PRESSURE INVOLVED WITH BEING EXPECTED SINCE HIGH SCHOOL TO TAKE BACK TO THE TITLE GAME: “No, that actually doesn’t run through my mind. I never really thought about it like that. Of course I want to be the one to get us to a national championship, but it doesn’t put pressure on me. I don’t think about it like that.”

ON WHETHER HE’D STILL FEEL LIKE HE HAD A COMPLETE CAREER (AND A SATISFYING ONE) IF TECH GOES 12-2 THIS SEASON, WIN THE ACC, WIN THE ORANGE BOWL, BUT DOESN’T PLAY FOR A NATIONAL TITLE: “No. My goal was to win a national championship, so it would sort of be letting myself down not to get there. I mean, 10-2 is a great season to have, but I’d still feel like I let myself and my team down. We’ve had enough 10-win seasons, not enough undefeated seasons. That’s what they brought me here to do.”

ON THE IDEA THAT THE WHOLE TITLE RUN COULD BE ON THE LINE IN WEEK 1 AGAINST BOISE STATE: “I like playing a high-powered program. It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing. I think playing them first kind of tells you where your team is. How are you going to react? In summer workouts, it gives you something to work for. Having a team that’s higher-ranked than you, being the underdog, that’s a little extra motivation. We feed off that.”

ON WHAT WINNING A GAME LIKE THAT, ALREADY RIDING THE WAVE OF LAST SEASON’S STRONG FINISH AND BOWL WIN OVER TENNESSEE, MIGHT DO FOR TECH: “It would be big, but there’s still a lot games to go after that. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket. You have to still be motivated after that win. It can’t be, ‘We won! Let’s relax now.’ There’s a lot of teams in our conference that you could say are just as good as Boise State. Then we have a lot of games on the road. So just putting all our eggs in that one basket, that’s not going to cut it. You have to have the same focus and motivation and enthusiasm for every game we play. Treat every game like it’s Boise State.”

ON THERE BEING AN ASSUMPTION – BECAUSE THEY PLAY SIMILAR STYLES, COME FROM THE SAME AREA AND THE OBVIOUS HOKIE CONNECTION – THAT HE AND MICHAEL VICK ARE CLOSE FRIENDS: “I talk to him often. We text every now and then. I can call him any time and he’ll answer. We have a good relationship. Not that we talk every day, but whenever I need something, he’s there to answer a question, on the field or off the field. He’s a good friend to have.”

ON HOW THEY ESTABLISHED THEIR FRIENDSHIP: “I met him in high school. Growing up, watching Ronald Curry and Michael Vick and Allen Iverson, guys from that area who play sports try to keep in touch. You might go back home and see them any time, at a camp or something, or just run into them.”

ON WHEN HE BEGAN CONSIDERING VICK A FRIEND HE COULD CALL ANY TIME: “The last couple years. I met with him before he went to prison. I sat down and talked to him. He just said he was proud to see what I was doing and to keep going out there and keep balling. He said, ‘Don’t worry about the comparisons. Their always going to be there. You’re always going to be compared to somebody. Just be yourself, go play your own game.’ ”

ON WHETHER THEY’VE TALKED AT ALL ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE AND WHAT IT TAKES TO GET A TEAM TO THE NATIONAL TITLE GAME: “Not yet, but I plan on calling him and asking him a few questions, some of that included. With the national championship team, how did he carry himself in the locker room, on the field, off the field. Just how’d he do it?”

ON VICK MAKING THE MEMORABLE RUN AT THE END OF THE WEST VIRGINIA GAME IN 1999 TO SAVE THE TITLE RUN, AND ALMOST EVERY TITLE RUN NEEDING SOMETHING LIKE THAT (BAMA BLOCKED TWO FIELD GOALS TO SURVIVE TENNESSEE LAST YEAR): “That’s something you always dream about doing. I believe I can make that play. My teammates trust me to make that play. That’s what you train your body for, to be ready whenever that opportunity is brought to you.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS A DREAM SCENARIO FOR THAT DEFINING MOMENT: “I need a long run. I haven’t completed a long run for a touchdown. All my long runs end up with me getting tackled or pushed out of bounds. I haven’t finished any. I’m preparing my body for that, so that if I break one, I’m getting in the end zone.”

ON WHETHER HE FEELS LIKE A CELEBRITY WHEN HE WALKS AROUND CAMPUS: “I don’t think of it like that. I never will. People are familiar with my face. Not everybody notices me, though, and that’s fine with me. I’d rather be unnoticed than noticed sometimes. I don’t think I’m a celebrity. I’m the type of person that I would sit in a restaurant and never say a thing about football, and if you didn’t know I played football, I wouldn’t give you any indication that I did.”

ON WHY HE’S THAT WAY: “I just try to be very humble. My mother and father are that way. My mother really stressed that she never like people who think they know everything. She taught me to always be willing to learn and never walk around acting like I know it all, because I don’t. A lot of people who are cocky are complacent, and once you’re complacent, that’s when you start going down. As long as you’re hungry and motivated and humble, you’re willing to learn and you get better.”

ON WHETHER, THEN, HIS MOM GAVE HIM FLACK FOR STRUTTING ACROSS THE GOAL LINE IN AN ORANGE BOWL WIN OVER CINCINNATI AFTER THE 2008 SEASON: “She did. I don’t even know what made me do that. It wasn’t planned; it just happened. Maybe I was just having so much fun in that moment. But does stay on me. Even in high school, she never liked me celebrating. I remember her (after the Cincy TD) saying, ‘Why would you do that? You could’ve done without that.’ ”

ON THAT TOPIC, TO CLEAR UP A NAGGING CURIOSITY, WHAT WAS HIS SCOWL ALL ABOUT AFTER THE GAME-WINNING TD PASS AGAINST NEBRASKA LAST YEAR? WHY SO MAD IN SUCH A HAPPY MOMENT? “(Laughing) I was mad because I was trying to tell people my helmet wasn’t on. I had unbuckled my helmet and guys were hitting me in the helmet and my face mask was hitting my mouth. I bit my lip and everything was cut up under there. I wasn’t real mad, but I couldn’t get my helmet straight because my teammates were on my head.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENT THIS OFFSEASON, KNOWING THIS IS HIS LAST SHOT: “As far as training, I’ve always been a guy that wants to push my body to the max. I like the way my body looks after a good workout. Who doesn’t? But I’m doing even more stuff, working in the sand pit, running with a heavy ball, just to be more in shape. But I’ve also been watching film of myself and watching Boise State and other teams, previous games I’ve played. In camp, when I can grab Coach Foster or the defensive guys, I just want to see how they go about calling defenses and how they’d go about stopping certain things, just to get a better idea of the defense’s point of view.”

ON WHETHER HE SENSES THAT THIS TEAM IS GOOD ENOUGH TO BE IN THE NATIONAL TITLE HUNT: “I really think this team has the talent to take it to the next level. We just have to put all the pieces together and stay focused on one game at a time. That’s where the veterans and the leaders come in, to keep everybody thinking about the same goal every practice. I know camp can get bad sometimes, but we have to keep letting everyone know what we’re working toward.”

ON NOT LIKING TO TALK TO REPORTERS EARLY IN HIS CAREER BUT SEEMING TO ENJOY IT MORE NOW: “Throughout high school, it was something I didn’t like. I’m not saying I like it now (laughing), but I guess it was just doing more (interviews), getting comfortable with them and seeing (reporters) a lot, getting to know some of the reporters and what kind of questions they ask. And knowing personnel better, being respected as a captain now and a leader of the team allows me to answer questions more comfortably. And realizing that the stating quarterback at a big college is just going to have to do it.”

ON WHAT MENTOR RONALD CURRY, ONCE THE NATION’S TOP RECRUIT AND A UNC FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL STANDOUT, TOLD HIM YEARS AGO ABOUT THE MEDIA: “Basically just to watch what you say to reporters, to be careful what you say.”

ON WHETHER HE EVER TOOK IT PERSONALLY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS HEARING THAT THE DEFENSE CARRIES THE OFFENSE AT VIRGINIA TECH: “I took it personal. I think everybody on our offense took it personal. We go out there and play the same game they do. But, the truth is, at one point the offense wasn’t producing like people would like to see – or the coaches would like to see. It was for different reasons. One year, we had a brand new receiving corps; linemen weren’t acclimated to the system; some position changes. But you can’t blame it on one thing. Everyone is settled now and experienced in what they’re doing and it’s going to allow people to talk about the offense more. And the defense, we lost a lot of guys from last year, but you know just as well as I know that Coach Foster is going to put the right people in the right place.”

ON ENJOYING NOT BEING THE QUESTION MARK THIS SEASON: “Yeah, I guess, but we’re still a team. It’s not the offense against the defense. The defense was upset when people were talking about our offense, too. It’s a team.”

ON THE BIGGEST LESSON HE’S LEARNED SINCE COMING TO TECH: “Just how to become an overall quarterback. I’ve been in different situations throughout games and I can go back and watch film on them all. I think I’ve carried myself better in some situations than others, but I’ve matured a lot from all that. I came in as a complete quarterback, I think, but not knowing the offense as well as I needed to play my best. Learning everything has allowed me to go back to the way I used to play.”

ON WHETHER HE MINDS BEING CONSIDERD ‘THE NEXT VICK’: “Of course, I want to make a name for myself. Vick was a heckuva player, a freak athlete, strong arm, very fast. There was nothing, on the field, that would be bad for people to compare me to. Does it bother me? I want people to know I was Tyrod Taylor, not the next Vick.”

ON WHETHER THE ONLY WAY THAT WILL HAPPEN IS IF HE TAKES TECH WHERE VICK COULDN’T: “Yeah, ultimately, that’s what it will take.”

ON HOW HE THINKS HE’S DIFFERENT, PLAY-WISE, FROM VICK: “I think now I’m a pass-first guy. I think sometimes maybe he was a run-first guy. He had great ability to run, so it would be hard not to. But I think right now I’m just a more polished quarterback than he was. He didn’t play here that long, though. If he’d have played here longer, you never know, but I think I’m a more polished, overall quarterback in college than he was.”

ON WHETHER HE CONSIDERS VICK THE BETTER RUN AND HIMSELF THE BETTER PASSER: “Yes, I think you can say that.”

ON HIS GREATEST FEAR IN LIFE: “Letting myself down and leaving doubt for others. I feel like if I’m able to go out there and give it 110 percent, there’s no reason not to. A lot of people say they gave their 100 percent. It’s easy to say that, but if every game, you really did give your 110 percent and you know it, and everybody else knows it, you’ve done your job. Everything’s not always going to go your way, but if you’ve left no doubt that you did your best – if nobody can say otherwise – that’s good enough.”

ON CLARIFYING FEARS: “I don’t know if I have any real fears. What I just said is not really a fear, actually. It’s just how I want to be. But I’m fearless on the field.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND: “No. I had one the first couple months my freshman year. Not since then. I haven’t found anyone up here and for a long-distance relationship back home, I never get to go home. A lot of females don’t understand the time it takes for athlete to be good. I’m trying to stay focused.”

ON NOT GOING OUT AND PARTYING MUCH: “Not too much. I try to stay out of the night life. It gets old after a while. It’s a college town and I don’t drink, so going out to some house party is irrelevant when everybody else but me is drunk. So I try to keep to myself.”

ON WHY NO DRINKING, ASIDE FROM THE FACT THAT HE JUST TURNED 21 ON AUG. 3: “Growing up in the area I grew up, seeing what it does to some people, it just doesn’t make sense.”

ON BEING AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES AND EVEN FILMING A COMMERCIAL DEPICTING HIM RESISTING THE TEMPTATIONS OF A STAR ATHLETE: “Our chaplain asked me about doing that. My mother has always told me to thank God first, whatever you do. Of course, I’m not perfect and I make mistakes, but God is the reason I’m here right now. He gave me the attributes that he gave me, so why not thank him for it. I need to thank him every chance I get. I pray before games, sometimes a couple times – on the boss, in the locker room. I remember Johnny (the chaplain) telling us that it doesn’t have to be so formal, to just have a conversation with God. So I pray before every game. I won’t leave the locker room without doing it.”

ON HAVING A SQUEAKY CLEAN REPUTATION FOR AN ATHLETE IN HIS POSITION AND HOW HE AVOIDS TARNISHING IT: “I try to see things before they happen. If you’re out at a party, don’t stay until it’s over. They always say nothing good happens after midnight. So I leave early. You can go, have some fun, but you don’t have to stay until it’s over. I know you can’t predict the future or predict every situation, but I try to see things before they happen – like in football – and be smart, avoid trouble. Don’t just think about yourself; think about the people your behavior affects. You don’t want to have your mother explaining something bad you did. That’s not her job. She sent you to school to get a degree and play football. In that contract, it didn’t say you had to party. If it’s something you didn’t do growing up, I don’t think it’s something you have to come to college to learn.”

ON HIS CONFIDENCE LEVEL, FROM 1-10, WHEN HE WAS A FRESHMAN AND THEN RATE IT NOW: “I think I was always confident playing. I wasn’t confident about some of the things about the offense. Now, it’s a 10. Then, I’d say a 6. I was pretty confident, but I didn’t feel like I knew everything I needed to know.”

ON HOW HE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED AT TECH: “A great leader and a good person, a character guy. A great quarterback who was willing to do anything for his team to win.”

ON WHETHER HE BELIEVES HE HAS NFL POTENTIAL AT QB: “I think I’m an NFL quarterback. I’m not the tallest guy, but I’ve never had a problem seeing over the line. I think I have everything it takes to be a quarterback in the National Football League. This is definitely the year I can showcase my talent for the position. It’s about the team first, but I still have in the back of my head that there are a lot of people who don’t believe in me. That’s just a little more motivation.”

ON HIS CAREER FLYING BY, BEING ALMOST OVER NOW: “I remember the day Coach Beamer and Coach Newsome visited me. I just kept smiling. We were in my living room, watching TV, and I think my mom was more nervous than anyone. It was a nice conversation and they made me feel like I was part of the Hokie family already. Sometimes, if there’s a stranger in your house, you might not feel comfortable. But it felt like Coach Beamer had been there before and like I’d known him for a while. I was comfortable around those guys and excited to play for them. It seems like that was just yesterday. My career went so fast. I’ve played in a lot of games already, but I think all those were just a process to get me here, leading a great team. Everything has been preparing to go out and put on a show this year.”

* For instant updates on the Hokies, follow me at twitter.com/kyletuckerVP

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