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Defensive Back: Trey Taylor
Trey Taylor and the rest of the secondary should create unfriendly skies for Air Force opponents
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The Falcon’s are entering the 2021 season the same as they do every year; preparing a host of new players due to attrition, and watching seemingly lesser teams garner far more fan fare. Don’t scold the media, pundits or fans alike though, Air Force has gotten pretty comfortable on this model.
One reason the Falcons outperform expectations time and again is their track record of developing players. From a prospect rating perspective, Air Force is recruiting at it’s highest level ever, but they are typically outside of the top 100 in terms of national recruiting. The Academy certainly recruits a very specific type of student athlete, so there are some immeasurables that have to be considered about the makeup of these individuals who are committing to serve their country as part of their education and athletic endeavors. And that is key ingredient to their success.
So while the method of prospect ranking, and true ability to assess the talent relative to the institution which they commit to will always be debatable; what cannot be argued is how great of a job Troy Calhoun and staff have developed players in their program. Because of this track record, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when we see three players from last years team in NFL camps, or unheralded prospects emerge as All-Conference standouts. But time and again, the Falcons get slept on.
FLYING UNDER THE RADAR
In accordance with the Air Force routine of emergent talents, Trey Taylor is our player to watch for this fall. The former 3-star commit has sophomore eligibility after a turnback year in 2020, but has been turning heads since he entered the Academy in 2019.
As an accomplished safety out of Texas, Taylor came to the Air Force Academy with earned credentials well beyond his blooldlines. Between his junior and senior years, he racked up 167 tackles, 25 pass break ups, four forced fumbles and nine interceptions. The kind of numbers his uncle, and All-Time NFL great, Ed Reed could certainly appreciate. His father Tyree also played on the defensive side of the ball at SMU. So it seems Trey is following a family tradition.
One of the safety positions should be secured by a potential All-Conference player in Corvan Taylor, which leaves a lot of suitors for the sole remaining spot. While there will be fierce competition for playing time at safety, with plenty of young and experienced players returning, Trey Taylor has to be considered a real candidate to help anchor the secondary.
With Corvan Taylor already providing a solid safety on one side of the field, Trey Taylor might be the perfect compliment opposite him. The ceiling for these two in tandem is very high, think Brodie Hicks and Weston Steelhammer. Anytime you bring up one of the greatest to ever do it in Steelhammer, your run the risk of getting lost in hyperbole. But the duo of Taylor and Taylor may be a tandem of All-Mountain West Conference performers at years end, just as Hicks and Steelhammer were.
One of my favorite pieces of scripture is from Proverbs 27:7 “Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”, and this is highly relatable to the aggregate of talent on the Air Force defense, specific to Taylor, the secondary. The coaching staff is going to get the best out of all these guys, but the internal competition should provide significant depth and optimization.
Most people outside of Colorado Springs don’t know who Trey Taylor is yet, but they are going to.