Trooper Taylor speaks

Hey everyone. Trooper Taylor, one of the Tigers' assistant coaches, spent 35 minutes speaking about a variety of topics. Here is an overview of the most intriguing things I heard.

• NEW @ 4:45 p.m. On recruiting: "I like the ones that my wife can pick out. That's pretty good, you know, when she can put the tape on and say, 'Sign him, baby.' We're good."
  
  
• On how difficult recruiting was: "I used to have an afro."
  
  
• On DeAngelo Benton: "You don't go to bed a circle and wake up a square. If you can play ball, you can play ball."
  
  
• He said Benton is fully qualified and will report to campus this summer.
  
  
• He said Curtis Luper is the team's recruiting coordinator.
  
  
• He said as assistant head coach, he handles team matters when head coach Gene Chizik is away. Taylor indicated that Chizik already has brought in outside experts to help Taylor (and perhaps other coaches) with their leadership and interview skills. Not media interviews. I think he meant job interviews.
  
  
• He said Chizik, who projects an all-business aura, isn't duplicitous. He really is all-business, even behind closed doors.
  
  
• He apparently turned down other offers, including a coordinator job, to work at Auburn. His primary Auburn contact was fellow assistant Curtis Luper, who already knew Chizik from his days at Stephen F. Austin. Luper warmed Taylor to the Auburn idea and Chizik took it from there.
  
  
• He wants to be a head coach within five years.
  
  
• He doesn't seem real geeked about recruits who wait until after NSD to make a decision. He's OK with the general concept, but clarified his position with an anecdote. Taylor said each player is the CEO of his own career and has vice presidents (ie family members or school/athletic contacts) who help. Once "other members of the board get in there," the situation can get murky.
  
  
• Asked to assess his current players, Taylor's first dose of praise went to Montez Billings.
  
  
• He seemed unsure about what to expect from PPL ... and when.