Making up for lost time
October 16, 2009 | Football
Oct. 1, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- Football surrounded Mike Taylor while growing up in Ashwaubenon, Wis.
On one side of him, about a mile away from his house, there was the home of the Green Bay Packers, legendary Lambeau Field. From another view, there was the local high school, Ashwaubenon High School, which had a consistent presence in the WIAA State Football Tournament, qualifying for the state championship game six times, with four Division 2 state titles, while Taylor grew up in the area.
"The whole city is a football city and everyone is expected to play football. That's what you do, is play football," Taylor said.
Taylor started the sport at a young age, around six or seven just playing with his brothers in the street, before beginning tackle football in seventh grade. He played on Ashwaubenon's state championship team in 2005, grew up cheering for the Badgers and always had the dream of playing football at Wisconsin.
"If I went somewhere else, I didn't feel like that would be right," he said.
Long before he turned to Ashwaubenon's tradition of football though, Taylor adopted a different sport--wrestling.
"My mom said when I was in preschool and kindergarten, I was always getting into fights, especially with my brother," Taylor said. "She wanted something that would take away some of our free time and waste our energy so I started wrestling in kindergarten and stuck with it through high school."
Taylor had a successful wrestling career at Ashwaubenon, finishing third in the state as a junior at 189 lbs. and then winning a state title his senior year at 215 lbs. Taylor says he misses wrestling but never considered trying both football and wrestling while at Wisconsin. Even though he's not on the mat anymore, he still credits the sport for how he plays on the football field.
"The biggest thing wrestling helped me with in football is mental toughness. When you're on the mat, it's one-on-one, you against your opponent and you're battling out there. It's mental toughness and gets your mind right."
Taylor has displayed that mental toughness since the day he arrived at Wisconsin in the fall of 2008. He came to campus with a bone spur in his neck, which required surgery and time off the field. The bone spur affected one of Taylor's nerves, so anytime his head would go back or he would get hit, that nerve would get cut off and his whole arm would go numb.
Despite the injury, Taylor was back on the practice field by November. He did not have a problem with redshirting his first year since he wanted to put on more weight and get stronger for when his time to play came.
That time looked like it could be in the spring of 2009, but another injury derailed Taylor's plans. On the second day of spring practice, Taylor pulled a hamstring. He sat out the entire spring season, now waiting for the fall to come around so he could finally get some playing time.
Then, just a few days into fall camp, Taylor had déjà vu and pulled his other hamstring.
"For it to happen again in the fall, the third day, it was really frustrating because that's such a crucial time to get on the field and earn your playing time. That was really frustrating."
Thanks to Taylor's mental toughness and quick heeling, he was back on the field a little over a week later, ready to earn his spot on the Badger linebacker corps. He came into fall camp as the No. 4 linebacker but the Badger coaching staff liked what they saw of Taylor and elevated him to the first unit.
Four games into the season, Taylor's injuries now seem like an afterthought. As a freshman, he is tied for the team lead in tackles with 30, is second on the team with 5.0 TFL's and registered his first career interception last Saturday against Michigan State.
Despite those impressive numbers, Taylor is not satisfied. He's ready to do more as the Badgers head into their second Big Ten game this season Saturday at Minnesota.
"I could definitely do a lot better that's for sure," Taylor said. "I'm missing a lot of keys. I think I'm doing alright, but there's no excuses for doing something wrong, being a freshman, that doesn't matter. You're out there for a reason and you're expected to make plays and the coaches put trust in you to do that."
Be sure to check out this video interview we did with Mike Taylor where he talks about his wrestling days and the Wisconsin/Minnesota football rivalry.
