| LB Ben Taylor went from being largely unrecruited out of high school to
gaining some All-America notice in his final season at Virginia Tech. A top competitor
with excellent intangibles, Taylor has risen up draft boards as one of the top inside
linebackers. He discussed promoting himself to earn a scholarship out of high school, how
he will benefit from Virginia Tech’s defense and how he has tried mirroring the
instinctive play of Ravens LB Ray Lewis and Dolphins LB Zach Thomas. Q: What
linebacker position did you play primarily at Virginia Tech?
A: I played basically your Sam linebacker, but in our system, it varies and rotates
back and forth between the Sam and Will.
Q: So you can do both?
A: Yeah, and I have; even my sophomore year, the year we went to the national
championship. I was a starter as a weak safety, so I played the deep half and rotated back
and forth.
Q: Have teams been talking to you about sticking at linebacker?
A: Yeah, basically they are looking at me at the Will position, so that is probably
what I will be best suited as.
Q: How big are you?
A: 6-2, 235.
Q: Do teams want you to put on more weight?
A: No, a lot of teams say speed is the name of the game, so if you are able to put on
weight and keep your speed, do that. But they don’t want — 10 pounds is losing a
step, and they don’t want you to do that.
Q: Obviously, a lot of good linebackers have come out of Virginia Tech just because
the team plays with so much speed. What do you think helps you in terms of being ready for
the NFL?
A: Coaching. Even when I went out to the East-West Shrine game, you see the different
players, and I thought I was ahead of some in terminology and just knowing the game. I
have a pretty good coach in Bud Foster. He is our defensive coordinator and linebackers
coach. So I just think the overall coaching was very good at Virginia Tech and really
helped me.
Q: What took you to Virginia Tech from Bellaire, Ohio?
A: Well, coming out of high school, I was only about 6-2, 200 pounds, so I wasn’t
a Big Ten prototype.
Q: So you didn’t get much interest from the Big Ten?
A: None, really. It was mainly just MAC schools. I kind of wanted to go to a higher
level and compete, so I kind of had to market myself. I made up tapes and did things like
that and sent them back out to Big Ten schools and down to Virginia Tech, Virginia, some
of those different schools in the ACC. And it kind of ended up where (the Virginia Tech
coaches) got the tape and they liked it, so I went down there and visited and everything.
I ended up getting a scholarship offer. When one scholarship happens, everybody kind of
jumps on — you know how that goes.
Q: So you were a self-promoter?
A: Yeah, I was a definite self-promoter when it came right down to it. When you are not
getting bites, you’ve got to go sell yourself.
Q: You didn’t like Michigan?
A: They offered me (a scholarship) about three days beforehand, but I was already set
to go to Virginia Tech.
Q: Anybody recruit you as a receiver?
A: Yeah, my only official visit was Kent State. My former high school quarterback went
there at the time. As a wide receiver, in two years, I caught like 130 balls, so
that’s kind of how they wanted me to get there. But I wasn’t really sure
receiver was my position, especially at the collegiate level. I had decent hands, but I
didn’t have the speed to compete — maybe as a possession receiver. But I came
down to Virginia Tech as an athlete, and they kind of put me in a position where I was
able to play.
Q: Are you surprised where you’re at right now?
A: I don’t know. I’ve always had high expectations for myself, so if I had to
ask myself if this is unexpected, I would say no just because, like I said, I do set high
expectations for myself. I just wanted to get my foot in the door and see what the
competition level was like and then once I saw that, I thought that I could take that next
step to being a good player at the college level and then hopefully onto the next level.
Q: Do you have any impressions of Cleveland head coach Butch Davis from your days
playing against him when he coached Miami?
A: I know he can turn a program around, and I think he is trying to do that in
Cleveland, getting things right. Everybody I’ve talked to on the staff to just video
people, they all love Butch Davis, so he must be doing something right up there. All of
the players I have talked to from Miami, they really like Coach Davis too.
Q: What did you study in college?
A: I started out in business, but number-crunching wasn’t for me, so I slipped out
and was a liberal arts general major.
Q: Did you graduate?
A: I’m going to walk in the spring, but I’ll be about 10 hours short.
Q: What is your expectation for where you will be drafted?
A: I would definitely like to be taken on the first day. That’s kind of a goal I
have for myself. Looking at some of the athletes in the draft, it’s not always how
good you are, or different things like that. It’s what a team needs. So I think the
first day is pretty optimistic for me, so that’s what I am kind of hoping for. I know
there are a lot of other good linebackers here, so it is just kind of proving yourself to
coaches and then putting yourself up against all the other linebackers.
Q: Is there anybody in the league now who you might compare your style to?
A: To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I’ll watch (Tampa Bay SS) John Lynch
and guys like that. I’m more into seeing who’s filling from deep, because they
never see that guy coming. As a linebacker, you are always accounted for. There is always
something there to block you. But you see your big hits when somebody comes up. I just
look at those guys. I look at the whole area, but I really can’t say I modeled myself
after one or another.
Q: You were kind of out of position playing strong the last two years, right? You
are going to be more of a will?
A: Well, our Sam linebacker is different than what most people think it would be.
I’ll cover the tight end and certain things like that. And in other defenses, I will
play the will. So I move back and forth. I played at 230, but I’m about 235 right
now. It’s hard to describe our defense. Some people say 4-3. I’m like, well we
do in some situations, but in other situations we don’t.
Q: Do you think that helps you to come from a complex system?
A: Yeah, definitely because I have talked to some other guys who are playing in the
league right now, like DE John Engelberger in San Francisco and DB Corey Bird from
Indianapolis, and they are saying that our defense is very complicated and when you come
here, I don’t want to say it’s simplified, but it’s kind of a step down,
really, because they have athletes now, and they want those athletes to make plays.
Q: Do you watch film of any linebackers or safeties when you were trying to improve
your game?
A: I’ll tell you what. Whenever I get a chance to watch (Ravens LB) Ray Lewis,
he’s a pretty dominating force. He’s got the big hogs in front of him that kind
of take up some blockers, but his thing is, his first step is so explosive. He knows where
the ball is going half the time before they snap the ball just with his pre-snap reads and
everything like that. So you could just see him taking a step before the ball is snapped
and getting down there. The same thing with (Miami LB) Zach Thomas. They are just both
very, very good and anticipate well.
Q: What are your strengths?
A: I think I anticipate pretty well.
Q: Do you get that just from instinct or from doing a lot of film work or what?
A: It’s kind of a mixture of both. If you are able to get some good pre-snap reads
on linemen — linemen can really give away a lot on run/pass. If you get one of those
reads, that’s 50-50, so that takes away half the battle right there.
Q: Did you play special teams at Virginia Tech?
A: Yeah, especially at Virginia Tech, Coach (Frank) Beamer, that’s his thing.
He’s putting some of his best athletes on the field. I was the personal protector on
punts this past year, but I didn’t do any of the kickoffs or anything like that
because I was a starter. But going up through since my freshman year, I was on all special
teams. I’ve never blocked a punt, but I have recovered a couple.
Q: Do you like special teams?
A: I’ll tell you what. A crowd goes crazy when you block a punt. That’s when
it really gets loud.
To Scouting Combine main page |
