Football Spotlight on Corey Taylor II…

Spotlight on Corey Taylor II

#24 Corey Taylor II • 5-10 • 214 • Running Back

Corey Taylor II is a junior running back from Tulsa's Holland Hall High School, who came to Tulsa after one year at Air Force Academy Prep School. Corey and his backfield-mate Shamari Brooks will lead the Tulsa rushing attack in 2019. He has 1,029 career rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. Corey is majoring in business management with an entrepreneurial minor and will graduate in May 2020.

Going to Air Force Prep…
Straight out of high school I went to the Air Force Prep school, a feeder program to the Air Force Academy. Basically, it involved very rigorous academic work, while also getting acclimated to the military life style and structure. After my year there I realized it probably wasn't something in the best interest for my future, so I got in contact with coach Montgomery. We sat down and had a long conversation and then a couple weeks later he called back and gave me the opportunity to come to TU.

What I like the most about being at TU…
I love being at TU because it's just so close to home. I feel like I have even more ownership in being at TU because I grew up here. I love my team. The team aspect of it. These guys are very close to me, especially growing up in a household with all sisters, these guys are my brothers.

How Shamari and I complement each other as running backs…
I think we complement each other very well. Immediately, when I met Shamari, I hosted him on his visit, we automatically hit it off. He brings a lot to the table as far as his quickness and he has an eye for the end zone. He's always gaining yards. I'm not nearly as quick as he is, but I feel like with the combination of his quickness and my power, it brings some versatility to the run game.

Get the ball in the end zone…
That's part of my role. Anytime we get into a goal line situation I'm automatically ready for my number to be called. My mentality when we're near the end zone is don't ever be denied. I think the coaches have picked up on that and is an area where they utilize me.

Hashtag for my time at TU…
#Grateful. I feel very fortunate to be here. I took a very unorthodox route to get here and I just feel very blessed to be here and blessed to be around the guys that I'm around every day.

Favorite NFL Team…
Don't have one. I didn't grow up watching a lot of NFL football, but I do watch now.

I do like…
Someone I really like is Marshawn Lynch and for more than just his play on the field. I think the biggest two things I like about him are just how he's been smart with the money he's earned from playing in the NFL and how he's invested it. Secondly, is how he's so involved in his community. I've watched a couple of documentaries on him and he's always back in his community doing things. He never got 'hollywood' as they say, so I really admire that about him. That is something I'd want to do if I got to his level of success on the field.

Favorite part of football…
My favorite part of football is the relationships you develop. When you're with groups of guys for 4-5 years it's a great time to get to know each other, and its' a great foundation for the next steps of your life as well.

My role models…
My parents are my role models. They've always been hard working and they've always encouraged me to live life and take risks. To see the types of rewards that I want. They moved us here from Kansas to go to high school, which was a lot better academically for me and my sisters. They've always been that risk-taking type of parents.

We moved to Tulsa…
My 7^th grade year is when we moved to Tulsa. My parents just wanted us to go to Holland Hall. My dad did some work in Tulsa and heard about the school, checked it out, and the next thing I know we were all shadowing at the school. My oldest sister moved up here first for a year, then we all came the next year.

In high school…
I ran track, played basketball and baseball all thru my sophomore year. Then I just concentrated on track and football my last two years.

I knew at a young age…
I knew at a very young age that I wanted to play football in college. My dad has old videos of me just talking about football. It's a game that I've been fascinated with ever since I was very young. When I played flag football, I got kicked out of most every game because of tackling and running people over. It was kind of just a natural progression into this idea that I wanted to play at the next level and take it as far as I could

Kicked out of flag football…
Parents did not like me when I was playing flag football. I was a nice kid off the field, but on the field I was always tackling and trying to run people over, and here I am today. I think we had 8 games and I got kicked out in five of them.

Tackle football…
It was like a dream come true to start tackle football in the 4^th grade. As a little kid you're waiting for the opportunity to put the pads on. I was probably a little over excited. I played running back and linebacker.

Hobbies…
I love music. It's probably my number one past-time.

The entertainment business…
I definitely would like to get into entertainment. I've been fortunate enough to be involved in the entertainment industry in many different ways since I've been growing up. I feel like it will be a pretty natural transition. I still do things for people, like audio engineering, vocal production and producing tracks as well.

My twitter handle…
@CoreyO24

Football Spotlight on Corey Taylor II…

Players Mentioned

Shamari Brooks

Corey Taylor II

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